Is there anything more Australian than home-baked ANZAC biscuit? Whether you like chewy ANZAC biscuits or Crunchy ANZAC biscuits is a matter of choice. Heres some history and a chewy ANZAC Biscuit recipe to get your
While we eat then year-round, ANZAC Day is a special time when the ovens are working overtime baking the chewy sweet biscuit to commemorate our soldiers.
From what we understand, the first known recipe for something called “Anzac Biscuits” appears in an Australian publication, the War Chest Cookery Book (Sydney, 1917), but this recipe was for a different biscuit rather than what we know to be the modern Anzac biscuit.
The same publication, the War Chest Cookery Book (Sydney, 1917), also included the first two recipes for the biscuits resembling modern ANZAC biscuits, under the names of “Rolled Oats Biscuits” and just “Biscuits”.
The first recorded instance of the combination of the name ‘Anzac biscuit’ and the recipe now associated with it was found in Adelaide (Australia) dating to “either late 1919 or early 1920”. In 1919 in New Zealand a recipe for Anzac Crispies in the eighth edition of the St Andrew’s Cookery Book had similar ingredients to modern Anzac biscuits
Another early recipe for the Anzac biscuit dates back to 1921 in an Australian newspaper called The Argus. These early recipes did not contain desiccated coconut which is present in many modern Anzac biscuits.
We believe that the first recipe for the biscuit containing the desiccated coconut is recorded to be from the Australian city of Adelaide in 1924.
Originally the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers posted aboard because they’d last the distance and didn’t spoil, plus with the added bonus they were a taste of home.
Here is a simple recipe for you to use on ANZAC Day (or any day in fact!)
Chewy Anzac Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup plain flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup desiccated coconut
- 125g butter, chopped
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Line 3 baking trays with baking paper.
- Combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl. Place butter, syrup and 2 tablespoons cold water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir for 2 minutes or until the butter has melted. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Stir butter mixture into oat mixture.
- Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Place on trays, 5cm apart. Flatten slightly. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly golden (see note). Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve.
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