What to make for recess? Morning tea? Afternoon tea? This is what you make. They are not only incredibly tasty, they fill you up and go beautifully with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
And even better, they’re almost guilt free. This recipe is adaptable to be sugar free if you want. Just replace raw sugar in exactly equal quantities with Erythritol. There is literally no change in the taste, no-one even knew when I tried it once.
By replacing 2/3 of the flour with wholemeal, it becomes more of a meal, and ticks the low G.I box.
There is plenty of fibre in these little power cakes, with dried apricots, sultanas and an almond on top. The almond takes on a roasted flavor during the baking, making them even more delightful.
You can make them as small or large as you like, but mine usually end up being about 8cm in diameter. This recipe will give you approximately 15 buns.
Rock buns make a great addition to your child’s lunch box. One thing you will find for sure is that they don’t last long and you will have to make more.
I made some recently to give to my lovely hairdresser Ross, for staying late to fit me in one day. They are just the right kind of easy treat to make for a home-made thank you.
I hope you love them!
Ingredients
- 3 cups of Self Raising Flour (2 x Wholemeal, 1 x White)
- 3/4 cup Raw Sugar (or Erythritol)
- Finely grated rind of one medium sized lemon
- 150g butter
- 1 level teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
- 1 cup sultanas
- 1 cup chopped dried apricots
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten
- 3/4 cup of full cream milk, plus extra if needed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- almonds, one for each bun
Instructions
Step 1
- Pre-heat oven to 180 Celsius, Fan forced oven. 350 degrees Farenheit or moderate oven.
- Line two baking trays with baking paper.
Step 2
- Place flours, sugar, salt, cinnamon and lemon rind in a food processor.
- Add chopped butter. Blitz to create breadcrumb like mixture. (Or you can rub the butter in yourself)
- Place this mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Step 3
- Whisk the eggs in a small bowl then add to the mixture.
- Add the milk and bring the mixture together until it resembles a stiff, sticky dough. You can add tiny amounts of extra milk until it looks like this.
- Now add your fruit. (If you add the fruit when the flour is still dry, it gets into the fruit creases which isn't as nice.)
- A nice alternative to dried apricots is dried cranberries.
Step 4
- Drop tablespoons full onto the prepared trays. You will have 6 per tray to allow for spreading.
- You might have to gently spread out the mixture just a bit.
- Place one almond in the middle of each cake.
- Add a pinch of raw sugar sprinkled over the top of each one. (Alternatively use demerara sugar for more crunchy crystals)
Bake
- Place in your pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.
- Buns will be ready when they are a nice golden brown. Longer baking will result in a crunchier bun, slightly darker.
Watch those babies disappear, you might have to hide one two for later!
