Guyanese Rock Buns with a Southern African Twist

I was in the mood to bake today and as usual, I wanted to do something easy, quick and simple. So I figured I would bake some rock buns. My brothers and I love when my mum makes these, the burst of coconut and the crunch just make you want to go back for more. As children growing up, this is one of the baked goods that rarely lasted more than a day. Ah memories!

At the time I decided to bake these, it was 3:00 am in Botswana and there was no way I was going to call and wake my parents up for an exact recipe so I winged it. Traditionally, this is made with flour but my mum mixes mealie meal (a staple Southern African starch similar to polenta/corn meal/maize meal) into her rock buns. I could not remember the portion of mealie meal to flour so I decided to be a little conservative and only use ½ a cup. The rock buns came out really well. I can’t say they tasted exactly like my mums but they were delicious none the less.

You can enjoy these with a nice cup of hot tea or an ice cold drink like sorrel.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ a cup mealie meal

(Note: Use 2 cups of all-purpose flour if you don’t have the mealie meal)
½ cup soft butter/margarine
½ cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup milk

1 cup shredded coconut

½ cup raisins (I don’t like raisins in baked goods so I used craisins in one batch and left the other plain)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease baking sheet.

Using your fingertips, rub the butter/margarine into flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Mix in baking powder, sugar, coconut and raisins

In a separate bowl beat the eggs and add the vanilla extract

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the eggs and mix

Slowly add the milk and mix to form a moist dough

Using a spoon and a fork separate the dough into equal pieces and place the pieces on the greased baking sheet. You can use the fork to help give the buns a rocky appearance
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy!

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