Mum’s ANZAC Biscuits

Here are three things you NEED to know about ANZAC biscuits.

1. The typical ANZAC (that’s the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) biscuit recipe was created during WW1 so wives could send these biscuits to their soldier husbands abroad. The lack of eggs means they keep well during transport.

rolled into balls, waiting patiently to be cooked

2. The term ANZAC is protected under Australian law (stick with me here, this gets interesting) and shouldn’t be used without permission from the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs… There is an exemption granted for ANZAC Biscuits, as long as they remain true to the original recipe and are referred to and sold as ANZAC Biscuits and never as cookies.

Yep. They take this stuff really seriously. They even made Subway drop them from the menu for not making them to the original formula – you can read about it in full here.

3. They are deliciously, lovely, chewy goodness.

Now, this recipe fits the bill of the traditional ANZAC biscuit – except for the sultanas. So in risking having the Department of Veterans Affairs come down on me, please understand it’s an optional, voluntary extra. My mum used to do it, and I think it’s a welcome addition to the traditional biscuit. Try it. I dare you.

P.S. As it’s my mum’s recipe and I’m just the messenger shall we all agree she is legally responsible? Good. I feel better now.

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
¾ cup desiccated coconut
½ cup sultanas
125 grams butter
1 tablespoon of golden syrup
1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda
2 tablespoons of boiling water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Put the oats, flour, sugar, coconut and sultanas in a large bowl, mix.
2. Pop the kettle on. Then put butter and golden syrup in a saucepan and get it to a high simmer (almost boiling). The butter should be completely dissolved
3. Put two tablespoons of boiling water in a mug, dump in your teaspoon of bi-carb, give it a quick stir, then pour it into the hot butter mixture. As the whole thing starts to froth up, as it will rather quickly, remove from heat and pour the saucepan full of frothing liquid into the bowl with the dry mixture. It’s pretty cool. I even took a picture. Simple things…
4. Then eat the cookie dough. No, no, that’s not right.
5. Make into balls, press down a little. Leave room for them to spread, and bake each tray for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool on tray for 5 minutes then move on to wire rack. Makes 30.

low and behold the power of bi-carb soda!

Healthy? 100-ish calories an ANZAC biscuit

Gluten free: I’ve made them with GF flour mix and it worked fine.

Storage: In an airtight container.

Warning: The type of coconut you buy in American supermarkets is not desiccated coconut. American supermarket coconut is very moist, dessicated is dried (which is what you get in Australia and the UK). While in the US I made these with the moist version of coconut and the biscuits still worked, but spread a heap and are super chewy. At least that’s what happened to me. They’re not really ANZAC biscuits anymore in the true sense. American’s can buy dessicated coconut from healthfood stores, or dry coconut via this method.

References:
1. My mum
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC_biscuit