Back in college, I had to take a class that I will never forget, it was called “historical writing”. Like most of my history classes, it’s workload consisted of a lot of research with very few assignments. In fact, it only had one assignment, research and write a 60-page essay on veteran’s history. YEA!?!? That’s easy, right? Anyways around the same time, I had recently watched the movie Gallipoli starring Mel Gibson. And I decided that I wanted to write something about the ANZAC (AustralianNewZealandArmyCorps) veterans. In the end, I wrote a 63-page essay titled “How ANZAC day and the remembrance and honoring of ANZAC veterans from the Gallipoli campaign helped to form the Australian national identity”.
Yes…. that was the title of my paper.
But anyway, the reason why I’m bringing all of this up is that I have just remembered that this Saturday is none other than ANZAC day. A day in which people in both Australia and New Zealand take the time to remember their fallen veterans. And while the day is mostly associated with parades and visiting veterans memorials it also has one other tradition. The baking and eating of ANZAC biscuits.
Now as an American it shouldn’t be a surprise to say that I have never eaten ANZAC biscuits let alone made them before. So just like my essay, I felt like I had to do some research.
It turns out that ANZAC biscuits were originally intended to be given to soldiers for their long trips overseas. Thus they had to be made out of ingredients that didn’t spoil easily. And the ingredients they chose were rolled oats and dried coconut. So really you can think of ANZAC biscuits as simply a type of coconut oatmeal cookie.
Secondly, the biscuits had to be cooked long enough so that they were dry, again due to spoilage issues. And from my understanding, the tradition of baking the biscuits until they are dry, crunchy and crumbly still lives on to this day. Now, I know that doesn’t sound that appealing, but really it’s not that much different from the texture of a good quality granola bar. And after having a couple I got to say I really acquired a taste for the things. So if you’re ready then let’s get to making some ANZAC biscuits!
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Many people will state that you can’t make proper ANZAC biscuits without using a product known as golden syrup. However, outside of Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K., it can be a little hard to come by. In fact, I’ve never seen it in any grocery store here in the U.S. That being said for those of us living in the U.S. and Canada, there is one decent alternative, dark corn syrup. While it won’t be exactly the same it’s close enough and doesn’t require any changes to the amounts of syrup used in our recipe.
- ANZAC biscuits are traditionally meant to be baked until crisp. However, if you’re not a fan of crisp cookies then you can make your ANZAC biscuits soft and chewy by simply reducing the baking time by a few minutes.
- One thing I learned from making these ANZAC biscuits is that you need to work with the dough quickly. If you don’t then there is a good chance that the butter in the dough will solidify. This, in turn, will cause the dough to crumble when you try to flatten it during step 5. However, there is an easy solution to this problem if you aren’t quick enough. Simply place the dough back into a microwavable bowl and nuke it for roughly 10 seconds. This should heat up the dough enough so that you can work with it.
- If you like these biscuits then why not try out some of our other biscuit/cookie recipes like oatmeal cranberry cookies, or chocolate chip walnut cookies.
ANZAC Biscuits Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 to 15 minutes
Servings: 2 dozen biscuits
Ingredients
1 Cup of all-purpose flour
1 Cup of rolled oats
1 Cup of unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut
¾ Cup of brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of golden syrup, or dark corn syrup
8 Tablespoons of Butter
1 Teaspoon of baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix together the flour, oats, coconut, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Mix the other ingredients together: Get out a medium-sized microwavable bowl. Add the butter (cut into pieces so it melts easier) and syrup to the bowl and microwave until the butter has melted, about a minute or two.
Then add the baking soda to this mixture and mix to combine. Don’t worry if the baking soda fizzles a little that is completely normal.
- Make the biscuit dough: Pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl that has the dry ingredients. Then use a spoon to mix everything together until it creates a cohesive dough.
- Get the biscuits ready for baking: Ok this next part we need to do quickly or else the dough will dry out and be hard to work with. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Then use either a cookie scoop or your hands to form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Place these balls on the parchment paper-lined baking sheets 2 inches apart from one another.
Finally, use your hands to flatten the biscuits a little. 
- Place the ANZAC biscuits into your oven and let them bake for 10 to 15 minutes depending on how crunchy you want them. Then take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Either store the ANZAC biscuits in a zip lock bag or enjoy them now!
ANZAC Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 Cup of rolled oats
- 1 Cup of unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut
- ¾ Cup of brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons of golden syrup or dark corn syrup
- 8 Tablespoons of Butter
- 1 Teaspoon of baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix together the flour, oats, coconut, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Mix the other ingredients together: Get out a medium-sized microwavable bowl. Add the butter (cut into pieces so it melts easier) and syrup to the bowl and microwave until the butter has melted, about a minute or two. Then add the baking soda to this mixture and mix to combine. Don’t worry if the baking soda fizzles a little that is completely normal.
- Make the biscuit dough: Pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl that has the dry ingredients. Then use a spoon to mix everything together until it creates a cohesive dough.
- Get the biscuits ready for baking: Ok this next part we need to do quickly or else the dough will dry out and be hard to work with. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Then use either a cookie scoop or your hands to form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Place these balls on the parchment paper-lined baking sheets 2 inches apart from one another. Finally, use your hands to flatten the biscuits a little.
- Place the ANZAC biscuits into your oven and let them bake for 10 to 15 minutes depending on how crunchy you want them. Then take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Either store the ANZAC biscuits in a zip lock bag or enjoy them now!
Check out how some other people make ANZAC Biscuits
From Kylee Cooks
From Recipe Tin Eats
