The ANZAC Biscuit

Although most of you are from Australia, some may not know the story of the 'famous' ANZAC biscuit. Personally it's one of my all time favourite biscuits and I think the history of them is really sweet, much like the biscuits themselves. 

The soldiers wives, mothers and girlfriends were concerned for the nutritional value of the food being supplied to the men fighting. Food as to be expected was awful, things like salty canned meat were served everyday and with the food being delivered by the unrefrigerated Navy ships, any food sent had to be edible for months after it was prepared, meaning no fresh produce. A group of the women came up with a biscuit recipe that they could send off to the men with the most nutritional value they could pack into a biscuit. 

The ingredients were picked because they don't expire for long periods and didn't require refrigeration, hence why there are no eggs in the recipe, instead golden syrup is used to bind the mixture. A lot of the farmers were sent off to war so produce was lacking as well. The biscuits were successful, so much so that schools, church's and even the CWA mass produced them. The biscuits were first called Soldier's Biscuits, but later changed to ANZAC biscuits. 

This here is the recipe that my family has been using for years upon years. It is still unknown how similar the modern day biscuit is to the ones eaten by the soldiers but these are delicious! However they're not quite as nutritional as they may sound which makes me believe they aren't that close to the original recipe. They are high in sugar as most sweet biscuits are but these certainly aren't sickly! 

Ingredients

1 cup of rolled oats

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of sugar (I use brown sugar which gives it a more molasses flavour)

3/4 cup of dessicated coconut 

125g of butter

2 tablespoons of golden syrup

1/2 tsp of bicarbonate soda

2 tablespoons of boiling water

Method

Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius.

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

Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan and stir gently over a low heat until the butter is completely melted.

Combine the bicarbonate soda and boiling water in a small bowl, then add to the butter mixture and stir. 

Make a well with the dry ingredients and pour in butter mixture. Mix till completely combined.

Grabbing a tablespoon of the mixture, roll into a ball and place on a lined baking tray. 

Bake in an oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden.

  

All my love xx