Indian Tea Rusk Recipe/Eggless Whole Wheat Cake Rusk: Sugarless Biscotti With Jaggery

In India, tea rusks are a favorite tea-time accompaniment, next only to cookies. My family is no exception either. We have been fondly in love with these double-baked biscottis - eggless of course. The best thing about biscottis is that they retain their crunch even after a dunking round in milk or tea. Cake rusks or even plain saunf rusks have been a childhood favorite. These surely make me feel nostalgic, taking me in time to my childhood when I used to visit a nearby rusk bakery and watch trays of plain rusks lined up waiting for their turn to get into the oven. Aww...I still remember that clearly. My love for Indian tea rusks has been eternal.

eggless atta rusk recipe with whole wheat biscotti

When I shifted to Delhi, I would often crave for saunf rusks, because the taste and flavor of biscottis here never appealed to me. So I made sure any return visit to my hometown was incomplete without a bag full of cookies and rusks. Yes, such has been my love for these baked goodies. I have explored several bakeries and confectionery stores in the National Capital, but could not find one that would remind me of the taste and flavor of my hometown baked goodies.

Finally, I found one in Chandni Chowk, but it would take one whole day to travel to and from the traditional market in the old region of the capital. Exploring Chandni Chowk is an amusing experience in itself. But that jinx had to be broken, so I started experimenting with baked stuff at home. Rest is history now. My experiments with healthy ingredients continue. I have never craved for a baked goody from my hometown ever since I started baking at home. In fact, now when I travel to Patiala, I take a bag full of healthy cookies and Indian tea atta rusks along for everyone to enjoy.

eggless whole wheat Indian tea rusk recipe

My parents were returning home, so I had to pack with them some healthy baked stuff to carry back to my hometown, because after having spent a good amount of time here, they are unwilling to go back to the market junk. This gives me immense pleasure. My dad often comments, "These market goodies do not appeal to our taste buds now that we have tasted homemade cookies, cakes, and rusks."

So this eggless whole wheat rusks accompanied Paro cookies made for my 2-year-old niece.
Dad is too fond of plain rusks, so I wanted to bake a batch of eggless cake rusks for him. Thus came this eggless atta cake rusk recipe, which was another experiment to bake with healthy ingredients.

What's so special about these atta tea rusks with no egg?
These are

• flavored with love, besides cardamom
• white sugar-free
• refined flour free
• butterless, though I have used a minimal amount of homemade cream here
• eggless and make a perfect tea-time snack
• Crunchy inside-out

On top of it, my parents loved these eggless biscottis with whole wheat flour.
Now if you are wondering how to make atta rusks without egg at home, here is a very simple biscotti recipe.

tea atta rusk without egg 

What is a Cake Rusk or biscotti?
Well, in simple words, a biscotti is a double-baked cake. It gets the name rusk from the dry, crisp, crunch inside out that makes a tea rusk a crunchy tea-time treat.

Ingredients for Eggless Whole Wheat Biscotti: Plain Atta Rusk
1 cup- whole wheat flour
1/4 cup- besan/chickpea flour (adds a beautiful color to the atta rusks)
4 tbsp- jaggery powder or more
1 tsp- b.powder
1/4 tsp- b.soda
1/4 cup- curd
1/4 cup- malai/cream
1/4 cup- milk
1/4 cup- water
cardamom powder
pistachio and almonds
pinch of salt

How To Make Eggless Atta Cake Rusk at Home in Airfryer/Convection/Oven

Whole Wheat tea rusks are quick to process at home. Here's how you should go about it.

• Take cream, curd, milk, water, and jaggery powder in a grinder and run the processor until everything is blended well. Add nuts and process again.

This is an important step.

• Next preheat the oven/convection to 170 degrees for 10 mins. Or you can preheat the airfryer for 5 mts for an airfryer rusk recipe.
• Take a sifter and sift through whole wheat flour, besan, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Sift 3-4 times.

• Pour the wet mix into a big bowl and stir in cardamom powder, dry ingredients.

Fold gently until everything looks well incorporated.

• Pour the thick batter into a greased bowl and tap the bowl 3-4 times.
• Bake or airfry the eggless cake for 35 minutes.
• Check the cake with a skewer to see if it is done.

Allow the cake to cool down before slicing it to make eggless atta cake rusks.
You may keep the cake in the refrigerator to cool down.
Slice it and bake or airfry the cake pieces for 10 mts at 160 degrees. Flip the side and bake for another 8-10 mts.
Let the eggless atta cake rusks to cool down before munching on these crunchy tea time snack.