This project is coming up on 4 years old, and I’m a handful of recipes away from finishing the Baked Goods chapter–at least, according to the collection that I have. There’s definitely some out there that I don’t have the card for, but here’s one of the last uncovered few (#50!) that I do have: 17-2: English Rusks. 🇬🇧☕
According to Wikipedia, English rusks are hard, dry biscuits given to babies for teething or crumbled up and used as filler for ground meat. It’s actually the US version of rusks that are more familiar–they list Melba toast and biscotti as examples.
These are pretty quick to make, and don’t even require yeast. They suggest cream cheese as a possible topping, but if you’re going to be truly English about it you’ll need to get clotted cream. Trust me, it’s delicious–make a pot of tea and some 17-11: Scones and have yourself a tea party.
Ingredients. No major deviations–it’s a pretty basic recipe.
Cutting the butter in with the food processor.
I’d say that satisfies the coarse crumbs requirement.
Formed a weird loaf and cut the dough as instructed. I didn’t get as many pieces as they did, but that happens sometimes with their recipes.
After baking. They definitely rose, and split pretty easily after waiting a few minutes for them to cool down enough to handle.
After splitting. They were already somewhat delicate, as evidenced by the few that split in half again, but they stayed together long enough to go back in the oven again.
After toasting. I had sprinkled the tops with some sugar and ground chocolate, and topped the toasted parts with some berry jam. They’re definitely great for an afternoon tea party or a quick breakfast–light and inoffensive.
Grade: A-
