rusks – My Whisk and I

Coffee Rusks

December 13, 2023August 17, 2023by Karen Claassen1 Comment

This is a small batch of rusks and yields about 24 pieces.

250g butter, room temperature
250ml caster sugar
4 eggs
10ml instant coffee dissolved in 30ml hot water
10ml vanilla
10ml baking powder
250ml flour

Preheat your oven to 170℃ and line a 23cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Beat together at high speed until creamy – scrape the mixture down once or twice in between mixing.
Add the eggs one at a time, waiting for it to be incorporated into the mixture before adding the next one.
Add the dissolved coffee and vanilla.
Add the baking powder and flour to a bowl and mix through.
Turn the mixer to a low speed and add two tablespoons of flour at a time, until you have no flour left.
Spoon the batter in to the prepared loaf tin and bake for one hour.
Cool the cake on a wire rack.

Slice the cake into rusk sizes: I like 2cm x 3cm.
Preheat your oven to 150℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Space the rusks evenly apart and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip the rusks over and bake for another 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool completely.
Store the rusks in a glass container.

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Lemon-Poppyseed Rusks

September 4, 2023August 18, 2023by Karen Claassen3 Comments

Yields about 60 rusks.

250g butter, room temperature, cubed
300g sugar
6 eggs
4-5 lemons, 80ml of finely grated zest
4 x 250ml self-raising flour
5ml salt
80ml poppyseeds
500ml cultured buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line two 23cm loaf tins with baking paper.
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed until creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well to incorporate. Scrape the mixture down once or twice.
Add the lemon zest and mix through.
Now add the flour, salt and poppyseeds to another mixing bowl and stir through.
Alternatively add a few spoonfuls of flour and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
Mix on high speed for one minute.
Spoon the mixture into the loaf tins and bake for one hour.
Remove from the baking tins and cool on a cooling rack.
Cut the loaf into slices about 2 cm thick and then cut each slice into three pieces.
Space the rusks evenly on a baking sheet and dry in the oven at 100℃ for 3-4 hours.
Cool completely and store in a glass container.

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Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

I love to bake snacks that can be kept in a glass jar for a few weeks (very optimistic!) and biscotti has a place of honour amongst them. The recipe yields about 36 slices and can be kept for 3-4 weeks when stored in a sealed glass container.

62ml vegetable oil
190ml sugar
10ml vanilla
2 eggs
440ml flour
1,2ml salt
5ml baking powder
125ml dried cranberries
190ml pistachio nuts

Preheat your oven to 160℃ and line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Add the oil and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed until well blended.
Add the vanilla and eggs and beat for another 2 minutes. Set aside.
Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a large mixing bowl and give it a stir to mix.
Run the mixer on the lowest speed and gradually add the flour mixture, allowing time to incorporate between additions.
Remove the bowl from the mixer, add the cranberries and pistachios and mix through with a spatula.
Divide the dough in half.
Wet your hands (the dough is extremely sticky) and shape each half portion of the dough into a log shape about 25cm in length. The logs won’t look wide enough to “become” biscotti, but the mixture will spread during baking and end up being wider than the shaped log.
Place the logs onto the prepared baking sheets and bake for 35 minutes.
Remove the biscotti logs from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
Turn the oven setting down to 130℃.
Slice the logs diagonally into 1cm thick slices.
Lay the slices flat onto the same baking sheets and dry in the oven for about 50 minutes. Feel the biscotti – it should be hard and shouldn’t give when you press it between your fingers.
Cool the biscotti on a cooling rack before packing them into a glass jar.