RCP: Anzac biscuits

[Jenise]

I saw the recipe for these crunchy/chewy coconut-oat cookies in the Penzey's catalog this afternoon and realized I had everything on hand needed, so whipped up a batch. Bob's in heaven!

Anzac actually stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps, the famous soldiers who fought for the British Empire in the last two world wars. The recipe is dead easy: you can make the dough in a large saucepan. It doesn't include eggs, but after I mixed the recipe as written (sans the water I forgot to add) I decided it needed more binding so added one egg, and then I decided it was a bit loose so I added another 1/4 c of flour. Another deviation is that I baked mine for 15 minutes at about 300 vs. the recipe's 25 at 275. I say about because my analog Viking range is not very precise and any time I set it I could be off by 25 degrees.

1 stick butter*
1 tblsp molasses
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 c sugar
2 tblsp water
3/4 c flaked coconut (I used unsweetened flaked coconut)
1 c oats, regular or quick
3/4 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

*I used salted butter, so no additional salt was needed in the recipe. If using unsalted butter, add a few pinches of salt.

Preheat oven. In a saucepan, combine the butter, molasses, baking soda, sugar and water, stir until combined and remove from heat. Add the dry ingredients, cinnamon and vanilla. Drop by large tablespoonsful onto a baking sheet. Bake at 275 for 25 minutes. They spread out some do don't crowd your pan.

Jenise - Would these work without the coconut, do you think? My daughter does not like coconut and others in the family are not big fans.

Thanks for posting this, Jenise. I've had Anzac biscuits on my astronomy trips to Australia and have become fond of them.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jon, hmmm...without the coconut, you've basically got but an oatmeal cookie. Might not be interesting enough by itself without another element for dimension. Nuts and raisins, perhaps?

I may try nuts, Jenise. I may make a batch and divide it up and try three or four different things.

Something I make quite often

FWIW I've not felt the need for cinnamon or vanilla, but more significantly I use honey instead of molasses or golden syrup, which seems to work very well. We also tend to use oats rather than oatmeal. Apart from that the recipe is similar

What's good about Anzacs is that they work across quite a range of cooking times, from moist through to proper biscuit level baking.

regards

Ian

[Jenise]

Something I make quite often

FWIW I've not felt the need for cinnamon or vanilla, but more significantly I use honey instead of molasses or golden syrup, which seems to work very well. We also tend to use oats rather than oatmeal. Apart from that the recipe is similar

What's good about Anzacs is that they work across quite a range of cooking times, from moist through to proper biscuit level baking.

regards

Ian

Hmmm...the Penzey's recipe is still here next to my desk, and it does say oatmeal but I presumed it meant oats, and indeed I used uncooked oats. Having made them, I can offer that cooked oatmeal would be all wrong. It would have been more like a pancake batter than a cookie. I'm going to assume I did what they meant, not what they said, and change the recipe above.

Anzacs are very Q&E and store and travel well, in fact they were made in quantity by the folks at home and sent off to the troops during WW1&11. I think that is how they got the name.

FWIW here is the recipe I have always used.
While the mix may seem a little dry it spreads out and coheres together well when cooked making a nice crunchy-chewy product. no eggs required (which is another reason it is a good wartime recipe as eggs would have been in short supply)

Anzac Biscuits

4 oz Butter or Margarine
1 Tbs golden syrup
2 Tbs boiling water
1 1/2 tsp Bicarb soda
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup coconut (I use dessicated as this is what has always been used in my family)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar

1. Melt butter and golden syrup over gentle heat,
2. Mix boiling water and bicarb soda and add to butter mixture.
3. Pour into mixed dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture onto greased tray. Bake in slow oven for 20 minutes (300F) cool on trays a few minutes, remove and store in airtight container when cool.

[Jenise]

Anzacs are very Q&E and store and travel well, in fact they were made in quantity by the folks at home and sent off to the troops during WW1&11. I think that is how they got the name.

FWIW here is the recipe I have always used.
While the mix may seem a little dry it spreads out and coheres together well when cooked making a nice crunchy-chewy product. no eggs required (which is another reason it is a good wartime recipe as eggs would have been in short supply)

Anzac Biscuits

4 oz Butter or Margarine
1 Tbs golden syrup
2 Tbs boiling water
1 1/2 tsp Bicarb soda
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup coconut (I use dessicated as this is what has always been used in my family)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar

1. Melt butter and golden syrup over gentle heat,
2. Mix boiling water and bicarb soda and add to butter mixture.
3. Pour into mixed dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture onto greased tray. Bake in slow oven for 20 minutes (300F) cool on trays a few minutes, remove and store in airtight container when cool.

Barb, I'm pleased to hear from you and that your recipe is very close to what I made. I should add now that re the boiling water? The recipe I used said that their recipe was quite "old". So, unable to understand the benefit they tested boiled water vs. not boiled for that segment of the recipe, detected no difference and therefore coudn't recommend, or not, that differentiation. But neither did they save it to mix with the baking soda. Do you think that makes a material difference?

Barb, I'm pleased to hear from you and that your recipe is very close to what I made. I should add now that re the boiling water? The recipe I used said that their recipe was quite "old". So, unable to understand the benefit they tested boiled water vs. not boiled for that segment of the recipe, detected no difference and therefore coudn't recommend, or not, that differentiation. But neither did they save it to mix with the baking soda. Do you think that makes a material difference?

I am not much of a baker so I just blindly follow the recipe I don't know what difference it might make but I have come across other recipes which add boiling water to baking soda then combine with other ingredients. Can't recall offhand but probably cookie recipes. maybe it makes sure the bicarb is evenly distributed, would taste nasty if you got a clump. I will ponder when I have recovered from a cold and helping move our hospital.

Good to see Anzac biscuits making friends around the world.

The ingredients include those things that were common - and cheap - in people's kitchens in the early 20th century, and made a biscuit that kept for a long time without spoiling. Eggs were too valuable to waste on biscuits, or so it was thought.

You need to use golden syrup. Honey probably makes a good biscuit, but it's not an Anzac unless it's golden syrup. Regarding boiling water, you have to get the bicarb and syrup frothing up together as if you're making honeycomb. It's just what you do.

Good Anzacs are always a little bit bendy and chewy, too. These days, we can buy Anzacs in the supermarket and as often as not they are crisp, and with too much sugar in, so they are like toffee with oats and coconut in it. Bleargh. Anzacs are not supposed to be tooth-breakers.

(Our supermarket ones are also often labelled 'cookies'. They aren't. They're bloody biscuits. So they are.)