South African Rusks - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour (coarsely ground if possible)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.
Combine all the wet ingredients, pour them into the dry ingredients, and stir until you have a soft dough, similar to biscuit dough.
Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and roll or pat it to about a 1/2 inch thickness.
Cut the dough into rectangles about 2 by 4 inches.
Bake the rusks about 2 inches apart on buttered baking sheet for about 25 minutes until the tops are crisping and browning a little.
Loosely pile the rusks on a baking sheet and keep them in a 200 degree oven all day or all night (about 12 hours) to dry.
The finished rusks should be very dry and hard.
Cool and store in an airtight container.
Rusks will keep for weeks.
Variations Oatmeal-Raisin Rusks: Reduce the white flour to 1 1/2 cups and add 2 cups rolled oats and 1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins.
Almond Rusks: Add 1 cup chopped almonds and omit the cinnamon.
Peanut Rusks: Add 1 cup coarsely chopped peanuts.