Jugu Cake Recipe

This is a hybrid recipe. Jugu cake isn't a cake it's more like an Italian biscotti with peanuts. Jugu, or rather njugu, means nut is Swahili and can be loosely translated to peanut. Jugu cake, or peanut biscotti if you prefer, can be found in restaurants in Tanzania.

It has been suggested the basic biscotti recipe was brought to East Africa by some Italian explorers long ago and the recipe was Africanized and given a Swahili name.

Recipe:

2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups milk
3 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 cups shelled unsalted peanuts, finely chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a bowl beat one egg, then add vanilla extract, vegetable oil, and milk.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking poweder, sugar, and peanuts.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix to form dough.
5. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts.
6. Roll each part into a log approximately 10 inches long.
7. Place logs on greased baking sheet and flatten until they are about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inches thick.
8. Beat the second egg and brush it onto the logs.
9. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Cool the jugu cake for a few minutes before cutting into pieces.
11. Allow the jugu cake to cool completely before serving.

These are wonderful when served with tea or chai.

Substitutions and Variations:

* If you only have one egg, melt some butter and brush it over the jugu cake before baking instead of using the second egg.
* Substitute the white sugar with Splenda.
* Substitute some plain yogurt for the egg.
* Consider roasting the peanuts before chopping them up for the jugu cake recipe

How to quickly roast peanuts:

Heat a skillet until it is hot. Add the peanuts and move them around until them all have little brown spots. Allow the peanuts to cool before chopping them.

Roasted peanuts also make a great snack! Be sure to try my roasted peanut recipe.