The other night I did some baking and posted a photo of some ANZAC biscuits on Instagram and immediately got asked to blog the recipe. It's a recipe that if you are Australian, you probably know by heart and have been making since you were 8. This is the way I've been making them for years. Enjoy!
The original ANZACs were the young men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in World War 1. My grandad, Harold, (my mum's father) was at both Gallipoli and Ypres as a young ambulance man. He was too young to sign up as a soldier and and even too young to sign up as a medic but his parents were French so they let him lie about his age so he could go and help their countrymen. Grandad turned 21 on the 11th of November 1918 - Armistice Day or V Day. What an amazing twenty first birthday present! On this day every year in Australia, we have two minutes silence and as well as thinking of fallen soldiers I always send a little prayer to my Grandad who managed to survive WW1 with just a big leg wound where he was hit with shrapnel and made it home to Australia to live a long ling life dying at the grand old age of 84. Anyway on to the biscuits...
The wives of the ANZACs made these biscuits to send to their husbands on the battlefields for extra nutrition. The ingredients of ANZAC biscuits were chosen because they would be able to withstand the long sea journey that the biscuits had to make to reach the troops. Eggs, a very common binding agent used for other biscuits, were purposely not used because of the high likelihood that they would spoil before they reached Gallipoli or the Western Front in Europe.
How to bake ANZAC biscuits
125g butter, chopped coarsely
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 cup (90g) rolled oats
3/4 cup (70g) desiccated coconut
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 cup (220g) sugar*
Preheat oven to 160°C (or 140°C fan-forced)
Combine rolled oats, flour, sugar and coconut into a large bowl.
Combine butter and syrup in a small saucepan and heat gently until it all melts.
Combine bicarbonate of soda and hot water in a small bowl and then stir into the warm butter mixture. The mixture will all froth up. Pour this frothy mixture over your dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon dessert-spoonfuls of your mixture onto a greased baking tray, allowing room for spreading. You can flatten them slightly if you want but it’s not really necessary.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown*
Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes on baking trays; transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Recipe Notes – I always make a double batch as we all end up eating some of the raw biscuit mixture which is delicious and then once cooked these biscuits get eaten up in a flash. I use white sugar but you can also use brown, raw or castor sugar. I like my Anzac biscuits to be chewy but if you prefer them crunchy then just cook for slightly longer.
Do you love these? What's way is your favourite - crunchy or chewy?
Fiona xx
sharing at Homemakeronadime
Do you love these? What's way is your favourite - crunchy or chewy?
Fiona xx
sharing at Homemakeronadime
Chewy...and I think they were invented in NZ, just like the pavlova ;)
ReplyDeleteHave a good day!
xx Karen
Ooh I love mine chewy :),and I love the story behind them, Thanks for the reminder Fiona.Hope your day is bright and sparkly.
ReplyDeleteKris x
My family can't get enough of these so they are made quite a lot here.love the mini milk bottles where did you get them from-love dee x
ReplyDeleteFiona, Thank you so much for sharing that story, loved reading about your Grandad! I look forward to making these.
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
Diane M.
What gorgeous photos and the biscuits sure look yummy!
ReplyDeletePS: I'd like to invite to join the Bosisto's giveaway at my
blog, I have 4 lavender packs up for grabs here: http://www.underlockandkeyblog.com/2012/10/bosistos-lavender-giveaway.html
crunchy... chewy... both!!
ReplyDeleteChewy.....
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great recipe.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I made these, they came out just like your photos, beautiful, thin and crisp.
The second and the third time they didn't spread at all :( any solution?
hi Maryam, try a slightly cooler oven or reducing the cooking time by a couple of minutes.
Deletealso are you using the same oats? you need proper oats not quick oats.
good luck with it
Fiona
Maryam, also add a little more golden syrup and a little less sugar,.Sugar makes them crisper, more golden syrup increases the chewiness.
DeleteFiona, thank you so much for the tip, I will try it for sure as we really love the taste of this, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer me :)
ReplyDelete