Jamaican Rock Buns

I spend a lot of time researching recipes from all over the world but spend very little time on Jamaican recipes. We don't have a lot of traditional desserts but it's about time that I learn to make them. I'd been thinking about this for a while and voiced this some friends back in December. They decided to join me on this quest. We created a schedule. One recipe for each month in 2019. No pressure though. If it doesn't get done in that particular month, no big deal.

For January, we chose rocks buns. I first made rock buns in first form of high school (at 10 years old). It's a really easy recipe and a good way to start because some of these months are going to be very hard for me.

I'm not quite sure how to describe a rock bun. A dense mini cake? Scone's denser cousin? A delicious treat that you should just eat and stop trying to describe it? Let's go with that.


Jamaican Rock Buns 

Ingredients 

480 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
170 grams butter
200 grams brown sugar
1 cup shredded, fresh coconut
1/2 cup raisins
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
milk, as needed


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 baking sheets (I used a half sheet and a quarter sheet).
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar, coconut and raisins. Beat the eggs and vanilla then stir them in. Splash in enough milk to get the mixture to stick together. I used about a 1/4 cup but you might need more.

Scoop mounds of the batter onto prepared sheets. I used an ice cream scoop but you can use a large spoon. It doesn't need to be perfect. If desired, sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until the tops are dry and the rock buns are golden.

Note

Sometimes I use a cup of grated coconut. More coconut = more happiness.