Friday, April 25, 2014

ANZAC biscuits (recipe for coconut oat cookies)

ANZAC cookies / ANZAC biscuits / ANZAC küpsised 
From the recipe archives. Originally posted in 2013.

Did you know that it's ANZAC Day today? ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The Department of Veterans' Affairs of the Australian Government explains the Anzac day and tradition in detail. This being a food blog, it suffices to say that apparently these eggless crispy oatcakes were the cookies sent by the Australian and New Zealand women to the soldiers on the frontline during the WWI. And they're lovely - at least their modern equivalent!

The original recipe uses golden syrup, but honey works as well. I actually find the flavour very appealing, similar to the Estonian honey cake, and the chewy-crispy texture went down a treat with my family.

ANZAC-biscuits 
(ANZAC-küpsised)
About 20 cookies
ANZAC cookies / ANZAC biscuits / ANZAC küpsised

125 g butter
2 Tbsp or 45 g golden syrup or runny honey
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
2 Tbsp water
150 g or 250 ml or 1 cup all-purpose flour
100 g rolled oats
60 g shredded coconut
150 g caster sugar

Line a large baking sheet (or two smaller ones) with a parchment paper. Heat the oven to 175 C/350 F.

Place butter and honey/syrup into a medium-sized saucepan, heat and stir until melted and combined.
Mix soda with water and pour into the saucepan. The mixture will sizzle and foam - this is exactly what should happen. Stir until combined and remove the saucepan from the heat.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut and sugar. Pour in the butter-syrup-soda mixture and stir until combined.
Using your hands, roll the cookie mixture into golfball-sized balls. Place these on the baking tray, leaving plenty of room between the cookies. Press the cookie dough into thinner disks for especially crisp cookies (that's the way I like them).
Bake in a preheated 175 C oven for about 10 minutes or until cooked (the cookies will harden as they cool down; if you didn't pat the cookie dough down, they may need few more minutes in the oven).

Store in an air-tight cookie jar.

SIMILAR POSTS:
Heidi @ 101 Cookbooks (Heidi adds some orange zest)
Lottie + Doof
Tori @ The Shiksa in the Kitchen (Tori toasts the coconut first)
Emily @ Chilli Marmalade
Jennifer @ Use Real Butter (nice step-by-step photos!)
Sneh @ Cook Republic
Martha Stewart
Laura @ Pies & Plots

7 comments:

William Seville said...

They are delicious. And store well in a tin. Still very popular today - we make them every month or so, especially for picnics.

Pene said...

I make these cookies, with margarine instead of butter, for a 5 year old girl who is severely allergic to eggs, dairy & nuts. They are her favourite. Last time I added small pieces of dried pineapple & papaya which added some colour to them. When we lived in America I called them 'Aussie Oatmeal Cookies'.

I find that it is easier to put all the dry ingredients in a bowl before melting the butter, or while waiting for the butter to melt.

Glad that you had sunshine on your birthday.

plasterer bristol said...

These look mouth watering.

Sinley said...

When we learn to eat properly we begin to rebuild our bodies and to fulfill our purpose on this planet to grow in health, creativity, wisdom, and compassion.

Gluten Free Cookies said...

Looking Fantastic..kids will going to love this!

Spencer @ Moo-Lolly-Bar said...

My kids love making Anzac Biscuits. Yours looks delicious.

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