Day 23 - Bran Buttermilk Rusks

Day 23 - hmmm where to start. The Little Diva and I went on a quest this morning to purchase cat food and snow boots. The snow boots were for her and not the cats. I can imagine putting boots on my cats would result in a trip to the ER for yours truly. When I was a student I shared a VERY, VERY, VERY tiny basement apartment (we called it "the shoebox") with a good friend of mine and of course my cat - JubJub. I thought I was doing him a favour by purchasing him a leash so that we could spend some time outdoors... stretch our legs, get some fresh air and all that. "All that" translated into a SCREAMING cat on top of my head with his claws firmly wedged in what I could only imagine was my brain. So yes - the boots were not for the cats.

The little Diva is super impressed with her purple boots and if it actually snows this winter we will definitely have to test them out. She hung on to her new boots all through Walmart and I had to pry them from her just long enough for the cashier to scan them.

Ok enough babbling about shopping. Here is the latest recipe. I tend to change the ingredients in these rusks every time I make them. You really just need to ensure you have enough cups of "fibery things" to add up to the total. You can use nuts, cereals, coconut etc. I also always half the recipe otherwise it is too big for my kitchen aid to mix. Here it is:

Ingredients:

3 cups White Flour (or wholewheat)
1 Cup of Bran
1 Cup Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1 Cup All Bran Flakes
1/2 Cup Coconut
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder
250g Margarine

5ml Bicarbonate of Soda
45ml Milk
1 Cup Buttermilk




 What to do:

Enjoy with a cuppa tea or coffee etc!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a pyrex dish 25X33 inches. Mix all dry ingredients except bicarb of soda together. Mix in the margarine until it resembles bread crumbs. Mix milk and bicarb together and add to the dry ingredients along with the milk. Mix well and spoon into prepared dish/tin. Bake for about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Turn onto wire racks and allow to cool completely. Slice or break into pieces and place onto baking trays. Dry these out in the oven at 200 degrees. Mine took about 3 hours. I just checked them every hour for the first hour and then every half hour after that. They need to be completely dry. Enjoy these badboys with coffee.... you can dunk or crunch - I like to do both :D