Another easy-to-make, traditionally Scottish recipe. Rasp Buns are not only quick to make but they are so delicious that they’ll quickly disappear too!
The world is a strange place right now. And if you’re someone reading this in the future, this recipe for Rasp Buns was published in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic…
One thing I find fascinating is the recipes that people are choosing to bake as all this goes down. I’m sure we’ve all made a Banana Loaf (or ten…) by now but another recipe that has been popular here on Baking with Granny is our Rock Buns. It’s discovering this which prompted me to develop and share these lovely little Rasp Buns.
I remember coming across this recipe in Granny’s infamous Blue Book – alongside Rock Buns – and thinking it was right up my street.
They’re extremely simple. In fact, without the Rasp part, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re really quite plain and not very exciting. But with that oozing jam centre…well that’s what makes these simple little buns something really special!
Similar to our Rock Buns, these are easy to whip together and make a great hands-on recipe for kids to involved with. Although when it comes to poking the holes in the middle to fill with jam, a larger adult finger is definitely preferable! We don’t want to be scrimping on the filling. You could of course use a wooden spoon handle, if you have little helpers who insist on doing it all themselves.
Ingredients:
Self-raising Flour
As opposed to using a plain flour, self-raising flour is what gives these little buns a bit of lift. Without that they would be a little flat and sad looking!
Butter/Margarine
Either will do and it’s personal preference to which you choose. I opt for margarine as a way to omit the dairy but whatever you choose, just be sure it’s at room temperature before baking. And if using margarine, make sure it is a block margarine, as opposed to the spreadable kind. The latter will be too soft and mean your dough is incredibly sticky and hard to work with.
Caster Sugar
The jam does bring a good bit of sweetness but sugar is still a must in any bun recipe.
Free-range Egg
Egg works as the binder in this recipe. I don’t tend to stress to much about the size of eggs in buns, as long as they’re free-range.
Milk
In this recipe, milk is needed to add moisture to the buns and help create the dough. You may not need all the milk listed, so be sure to add it gradually.
Dairy, soya, coconut…most milks work well.
Raspberry Jam
For that glorious jammy centre! Now of course for Raspberry Buns you would use raspberry jam but if you don’t have any to hand or you fancy experimenting, you could use whatever jam you fancy.
In terms of seedless or not, that’s personal preference. I’m usually a big fan of proper raspberry jam – seeds and all – but in this recipe I usually opt for a seedless jam.
Granny's Top Tips
• Be sure to add your milk gradually – you may not need it all! This is one of these recipes that the liquid is an estimate and can be affected by factors like quality & brand of ingredients, and air humidity. So the amount of milk required can not only vary from person-to-person but from each time you make Raspberry Buns.
• Add a little boiling water to your jam to thin it out a little before you spoon it into your buns. This will make it easier to work with, as well as helping it maintain a little moisture whilst baking.
Love this? Try this:
Ingredients
- 250 g Self-raising Flour
- 55 g Butter or Margarine
- 55 g Caster Sugar
- 1 Free-range Egg
- 2-3 tbsp Milk
- 4 tsp Raspberry Jam
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 190° (or 170°c for a fan assisted oven or Gas Mark 5) and grease a couple of baking sheets. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour. Add the butter/margarine and rub together with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the sugar and egg to the mixture. Add the milk a spoonful at a time, mixing together to create a thick, sticky dough – you may not need all the milk.
- Roll a small amount of dough in your hands to make a ball, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Place onto your prepared baking sheets and repeat with the rest of the dough, making 12 balls in total.
- Using a floured finger, poke a hole into the top of each bun, gently pressing right down.
- Spoon a small amount of jam into these holes - using a small teaspoon and adding a little water to your jam beforehand will make this step easier.
- Bake in your pre-heated oven for around 15 minutes until they have a nice golden colour.
- Allow to cool a little on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
9 Responses
I made your millionaire shortbread recipe and gave it to friends, they all said it was Amazing!
I made these today and they are delicious! I added 40g of dessicated coconut to the dough and it worked very well. Definitely will make again. Simple and tasty :)
I got a A at high school baking rasp buns back in the 70
S they were so yum .
Baking these today with my granddaughters in Bahrain ……they really enjoy “ Friday Baking” , Friday is the holy day in Bahrain,no school.They will not be home for Christmas, so these contact points are excellent .
What a tasty, simple to make bun. The house smelled wonderful, so I knew they were going to be delicious–and they were! My eggs were on the small side, so I added about 3TBS milk to the dough. Also about 1/8 tsp of almond extract because I love the taste of almond with fruit. My only issue was that I was unable to pull the dough around the jam–I suspect because I made the holes too small. Something to work on next time. Thanks for a spectacular recipe!
Must have made these over 20 times now, love the recipe and works well with multiple types of jam too! I might make one small suggestion that I have noticed when mixing the ingredients and it’s purely down to personal preference once the flour has been rubbed into the butter before the egg and milk is added I gently pre mix the sugar into the flour and butter then add the egg and milk, makes the mixing process a little easier and ensures you don’t get a overly sweet bit at any part like I say personal preference
Ca I use golden caster sugar for raspberry buns instead of caster sugar
Made the jam cookies with olive oil and no milk. Beautiful for vegetarians very nice
Love this recipe simple easy to follow taste amazing just like the ones when I was a kid now bake them with my kids and they love them so does my other half they don’t last long lol going to try with cinnamon & ginger x