Rusking It: South African Breakfast Cookies

Cookies are often considered snack food, something to down with a glass of milk before bed or with a cup of tea as an afternoon pick-me-up. But in South Africa, there's a special kind of breakfast cookie known as beskuit, or the rusk.

Originally made as a dried bread to take on long journeys, the rusk has evolved into more of a dried cake. In many countries the rusk is used for teething babies to gnaw on, but in South Africa, it is most definitely for those who already have their teeth. Similar to biscotti in the sense that it is first baked then dried, the rusk is different in that it is full of fiber-rich bran, seeds, and nuts. Rather than shaped into an oval and sliced into oblong pieces like biscotti, rusks are baked more like a sheet cake then cut into squares or rectangles or broken off into chunks. Their dense yet porous structure makes them ideal for dunking into a mug of coffee or a steaming cup of rooibos.
One of the great things about rusks is you can let your imagination run wild with variations. The basic recipe is a simple dough of flour, sugar, bran flake cereal, baking powder, salt, eggs, buttermilk, and butter. After that, you can mix and match flours, substitute coconut milk for buttermilk, and add in nuts, seeds, fruits, and spices to suit your mood.
You might try rusks studded with almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans and flavored with maple or vanilla. Or spice things up with cardamom and dried cranberries or star anise and black currants.
Over a holiday, a Dark Chocolate Orange Rusk would be just the ticket for making mornings special. Simply stir in chopped dark chocolate and the zest of one or two oranges for a truly decadent breakfast cookie.