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.
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
- Preheat oven to 180C. Put the oats, flour, sugar, coconut and sultanas in a large bowl, mix.
- 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
- 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…
- Then eat the cookie dough. No, no, that’s not right.
- 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.
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
Aha! I had these biscuits while in NZ and loved them, but when I made them at home they spread like crazy…must have been my strange American shredded coconut! I’m going to try these again with real desiccated coconut and see how it goes. Thanks for solving the ANZAC mystery for me!
I was quite surprised when they came out of the oven in the US – they’d basically covered the tray! Still damn tasty though, and chewy.
Usually means the oven is too hot or too much bi carb 🙂
You are so right about just eating the dough – I make extra just so I can nosh away while I bake! Yummmm!
Clicked submit too early there – that was me above – Christie 🙂
In the US, the coconut flakes sold in most supermarkets are sweetened and kind of wet looking. Desiccated coconut is available at health food stores, more upscale stores (like Whole Foods), and Indian grocery markets.
Awesome information! Thank you for that Nanette. I was staying in Seattle and didn’t think to look beyond Albertsons. I LOVED Whole Foods – I miss their amazing produce.
These look awesome. I’ve heard of them before, but now I’m tempted to make them. I love the history along with your recipe! I’m enjoying your blog. I’ll be back.
such a cool history tidbit. never heard of any of this before. wonder how this would work with gluten free flour? bookmarked the recipe with my cookmarked.com account ( http://cookmarked.com ) to experiment!
Hi Laura, glad you liked the post – I think you’d be fine using gluten free flour (I can’t remember if I have or not). All the gluten free ANZAC recipes I’ve seen just swap out the flour for a gluten free mix and leave everything else the same. They’re so chewy and well binded anway. I’d make sure the flour mix had a bit of xanthan gum in it though.
Hmm, I wonder if toasting my regular grocery store coconut would dry it out a bit more? I think I will be making these today! I cant get enough of coconuty oatmeal cookies!
I got curious so asked google (google knows all), and you know, I think you’re on to something! http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-make-desiccated-coconut.html Hope they work…!
At what temperature you bake the biscuits?? There is no mention of it.
Whoops! 180C or 355F. For a fan forced oven 140C or 280F.
[…] And last but not least, for another wonderful Australian dessert, check-out our ANZAC biscuits (which we made while on our New Zealand adventure), or for our other Aussie friend’s version, check out Aimee’s Mum’s ANZAC biscuits. […]
I made your ANZAC biscuits today, they’re amazing. Thanks Aimee!