I made my first rock buns during the Home economics class when I was in lower secondary. I remembered we were taught to make rock buns to demonstrate the rub-in method. We also had to make rock buns as a class test too. However, I hardly remember its taste now and I have thrown away the recipe of course. I have tried to search the recipe in the new home economics books but I can't find it. So I search the internet for a few recipes and modify here and there and this is how I make it.
Recipe for Rock Buns (makes 14)
Ingredients
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
100g butter, softened
100g soft brown sugar (I reduce to 75g)
Handful of chocolate chips (you can add sultanas/raisins instead)
1 small egg
1-2 tbsp milk
Method
1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter lightly with the fingers until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and chocolate chips.
2. Whisk the egg and 1 tablespoon milk together. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour the egg/milk mixture in. Stir until the dough comes together into a ball.
3. Line baking tray with greaseproof paper. Scoop a tablespoon of the dough and push it onto the tray with another spoon.
4. Bake at 190C for 15 minutes until the top is light golden brown. Leave to cool.
More tips:
1. Use brown sugar instead of white sugar for a better taste.
2. Use moist dried fruit like sultanas or raisins if you prefer a more fruity rock bun.
3. If the mixture is too dry to make into a ball because the eggs were smaller than needed, moisten the mix with a little more milk.
4. They will dry out if they bake for too long and become very hard. So do not overbake them.
These rock buns are quite hard and crunchy and my house is filled with nice buttery fragrance. And they are easy to make too without a lot of washing up after baking.
Don't know how to classify it so I will place this under cookies since they taste more like cookies to me.