Marmalade rusks

I have previously explained about the South African concept of rusks, so I won't go over that again. Please don't be put off by the fact that these rusks contain marmalade if you're not a fan. Neither are any of the menfolk in my family, but they love these rusks and find the marmalade-y bits best of all.

This recipe was torn out of a magazine in 1995, and has been used many times since then. At one point, I even took orders for these from the local home industry outlet. Give them a go. You will need a large mixing bowl.

Oven temperature

180C then low (about 80-100C)

Ingredients

1kg (7 cups) self raising flour
5ml salt
3ml bicarbonate of soda
2ml cream of tartar
250ml sugar
250g butter or marg (I always use butter)
100ml (about 130g) rough cut marmalade (the kind with big pieces in it)
2 extra large eggs (I used 3 medium)
250ml buttermilk

Method

Like Granny used to do...

• Melt the butter/marg over a low heat (or in the microwave, at about 50% power). 
• Sift together flour, salt, bicarb and cream of tartar in a large bowl.
• Add sugar.
• Beat together the melted butter, marmalage, eggs and buttermilk in a separate bowl.
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and stir in the buttermilk mixture.
• Stir in, and then knead (with your hands, like your granny used to do) into a soft dough.

Ready for the oven

• Roll into golf ball size balls and place in loaf tin (I only have one, so I used a cake pan as well, with no ill effect).
• Bake at 180C for about 50-60 minutes until baked through (test with skewer).
• Remove from oven. Leave to cool slightly, then break/cut apart. At this stage, you have what the Afrikaners call mosbolletjies, and you could eat them just like this. In fact, my sons prefer them this way. However, if you want to move on to full-blown rusks... 
• Dry at 80-100C until crisp right through (about 6 hours or so). I place the cooling racks straight into the oven, because you need to have air circulating on all sides of the rusks (so no baking trays).
• Dunk in coffee to enjoy.

The recipe in the magazine said it makes 20-25, but I made double that, so go figure.