ANZAC Biscuits

Dang, I wanted to write up the recipe for the onion/garlic gratin I made last night, but I realised I'd better get this ANZAC bikkie recipe up before it gets even FARTHER past ANZAC Day.

Me? Procrastinate? Nevah!

A quick notice to my American readers; biscuits do NOT mean what you think they mean. Down here in Oz (and in the UK) bikkies (slang for biscuits) are what Americans know as "cookies". And what Americans know as "biscuits" are what Aussies (and POMS) know as "scones".

Yes, the first time I told the family down here I was making Biscuits n Gravy for dinner I received some rather peculiar looks.

So if you are in the US, think of these as ANZAC cookies!

And for you longtime Aussies, these are NOT the hard, break-your-teeth, thin bikkies that are still in an "edible" state after almost 100 years. These are soft, chewy, delectable bikkies that won't last 100 minutes as they will all be devoured as soon as they are cooled!

I found this recipe in a mailer from me local member of Parliament regarding the ANZAC celebrations. It was originally credited to a certain Mr Bob Lawson who was at the landing in Gallipoli all those yonks ago.

I'm guessing that Bob was a cook with the ANZACs and wanted to come up with a slightly more palatable version of the ANZAC wafers they were being served. A bikkie that could perhaps be used for something besides scrapping mud off the bottom of you boot perhaps.

The recipe didn't specify what type of sugar to use so I, of course as always, used raw sugar. That's probably more in keeping with the times back then than today's highly refined gunk referred to as "sugar".

Even if you don't like coconut or oats in your bikkies (cookies) make sure you include them as these are the most absolutely BESTEST tasting cookies or bikkies EVAH!

ANZAC bikkies (cookies)

What you need to make 25 to 30 bikkies:
1 cup flour
1 cup raw sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup shredded, dessicated (fancy word for "dried") coconut

1/2 stick of slightly softened butter --no, DO NOT use margarine!
1 tbsp golden syrup (treacle) You can use molasses, but DO NOT use corn syrup!

2 tbsp boiling water (H2O)
1 tsp bi-carb (baking soda)

What you do:
Grease up a coupla baking sheets. I use butter. Preheat your oven to 180C which is about 356F.

Stir the dry stuff together in a mixing bowl. That's the first four (4) ingredients on the list.

In a separate bowl, mix the butter and golden syrup together. A large spoon should do the trick nicely.

Combine the boiling water with the bi-carb then immediately add to the butter/syrup mix. Stir quickly to combine.

Pour the contents of the butter etc mix into the bowl that has the dry ingredients. Mix with a strong, solid wooden spoon. Feel free to drizzle in a bit of hot water if it's too dry.

Grab a ping-pong sized ball of dough and plop it on a buttered baking tray. Continue till all the dough is on the trays. Make sure you leave plenty of room for spreading as these will soften and spread.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. When they start to brown around the edges they'll be done. Remove the trays from the oven and let the bikkies cool for about 10 minutes before you put them on a cooling rack. Trust me on that!

These bikkies are powerhouses of calories and energy! Seriously, if you aren't going on a 200 km bike ride immediately then I wouldn't suggest eating more than 2 or 3 at a time. Of course the fact that they taste sooo darned delicious may make that difficult!



Full disclaimer: I had 13 of these for dessert the day I first made them. Ummmm, I didn't need to eat the next day, that's for sure!