Anzac Biscuits

Prep Time : 15 Minutes | Cook Time : 10 Minutes | Total Time : 1 Hour | Difficulty : Easy

I could eat these all day. ALLLL day. I kinda did. Its probably good that there are so many other exciting, delicious, interesting things to bake otherwise I’d be a medical miracle made entirely of Anzacs. And they’re easy to make. And they’re made with oats (yay oats!) And they are an object lesson in one of the most important aspects of baking – supervision!

For the non-kiwis among us, ANZAC Day (25 April) honours both NZ and Australian soldiers who serve in the military and commemorates those who have given their lives for all of us. Its name comes from the Australian and NZ Army Corps of World War 1. While the major focus of Anzac Day historically is to commemorate WW1, it’s also an opportunity to give thanks to all service men and women. The Anzac biscuit (sorry it’s too kiwi a thing to call it a cookie) has its origin in fundraising for the war effort – they were a hit and have lasted over 100 years!

Let’s all take an hour to be part of NZ history. Preheat the oven to 160C (320F). Line as many cookie sheets as you have with baking paper, and also cut cookie sheet sized pieces so that you have 4 sheets’ worth altogether. Because they will spread a lot you need plenty of space on each sheet to make sure they don’t stick together.

Mix all the dry ingredients except the baking soda in a large bowl.

Heat the butter and golden syrup gently until just melted together. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and mix thoroughly into the butter mixture. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix it all together. Absurdly easy, right? It should be a moist but crumbly dough.

Using a tablespoon scoop mounds of dough onto the cookie sheets. Leave lots of room – only put 8 or 9 on each sheet.

Bake for around 10 minutes, rotating the trays after 5 minutes. This is where you really need to keep an eye on them. While they bake they will slowly collapse then spread then start to puff slightly before settling down into their final flat chewy form. At the same time they will be changing colour and becoming a glorious dark reddish gold. Aaaand then they’re burnt.

Golden syrup gives Anzacs their distinctive flavour and colour but it can also burn quickly if you don’t keep an eye on it. So watch them like a hawk and when they are flattening out and are dark gold almost to the centre whip them out! Leave them on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes to firm up before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

When to enjoy? Umm you’re asking the wrong person. Whenever you feel like a chewy oaty caramelly coconutty treat really. Which is always.