Wednesday, January 9, 2013

ANZAC Biscuits ( Cookies )


I made these beauties for my Fiance's grandma - a cute 92 year old 4'8'' lady with a huge appetite for sweets. Everyone calls her "Nana" and no matter what, you get a nickname in her cute accent. She made these cookies when she was growing up, and I thought it would be a good way to bring back some happy memories. 

Who doesn't have good memories of their favorite baked good? I know mine are the snicker-doodles that I used to make with my grandma every holiday season. We always had to make extra batches because my grandfather would eat them all. 

Just a little background - ANZAC stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps. 
These biscuit like cookies were great for mailing to troops - they keep for a long time and have a wonderful crunch to them. 

I've adapted my recipe from Martha Stewart - and for those who can not find golden syrup. Golden syrup is a reduction of sugar cane, a plentiful crop in parts of  New Zealand and Australia.  I ended up trying to make these cookies two ways - both with honey cream and with golden syrup. I looked everywhere and found golden syrup at Whole foods, but found that you could use honey cream which I found at my local Safeway, and believe it or not - Target! 


Combine flour, sugar, rolled oats, and coconut in a bowl.  Set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep the baking sheet with a piece of parchment. 

 Add butter and syrup ( or honey cream ) to a sauce pan over low heat.  Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water and add to the butter mixture. It will fizz up a little, so make sure that the pan has some depth to it.



Add the liquid mixture  to the dry ingredients and combine. I don't mind getting my hands dirty so I scoop and combine with my hands until everything is mixed together. I then make golf ball sized balls and place them 2-3 inches apart on the parchment covered cookie sheet. This will make it much easier to take the cookies off when they're done.

Martha says to flatten them, but I thought that it turned out better when I left them as balls. They do spread out so give them some room.



Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are crispy and cookies are golden brown. You can either let the cookies cool this way, or you can place them in small dishes and they will hold that form. Perfect for holding ice cream! Any Aussie or New Zealander will tell you these lovelies taste like home. 

Hopefully Nana likes them!  

Ingredients


  • 2 cups all purpose flour 
  • 2 cups rolled oats 
  • 2 cups sugar 
  • 1 1/4 cups dry coconut 
  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter 
  • 3 tbs golden syrup ( or 3.5 tbs honey creme ) 
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda 
  • 1/4-1/3 cup boiling water ( until the ingredients hold the shape of a slightly squashed golfball ) 


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