FOOD FRIDAY - ANZAC BISCUITS

“If I have got to be a soldier, I must be a good one, anything else is unthinkable.” - Wilfred Owen

As Anzac Day is tomorrow, Food Friday today offers you the recipe for Anzac Biscuits. These are sweet biscuits, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water.

Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives and mothers to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation. Today, Anzac biscuits are manufactured commercially for retail sale. Biscuits issued to soldiers by the Army, referred to as “Anzac tiles” or “Anzac wafers”, differ from the popular Anzac biscuit. Anzac tiles and wafers were hard tack, a bread substitute, which had a long shelf life and was very hard.

The term “Anzac” is protected under Australian law and cannot be used in Australia without permission from the Minister for Veterans' Affairs; misuse can be legally enforced particularly for commercial purposes. Likewise similar restrictions on naming are enshrined in New Zealand law where the Governor General can elect to enforce naming legislation. There is a general exemption granted for Anzac biscuits, as long as these biscuits remain basically true to the original recipe and are both referred to and sold as Anzac biscuits and never as cookies!

ANZAC BISCUITS

Ingredients

150g (1 cup) plain flour

90g (1 cup) rolled oats

85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar

125g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Combine flour, oats, coconut and combined sugar in a large bowl.

Stir the butter, golden syrup and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add to the oat mixture and stir until well combined.

Roll level tablespoonfuls of the oat mixture into balls and place, about 5cm apart, on the prepared trays. Flatten until about 1cm thick. Bake, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 15 minutes or until light golden.

Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.