An Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit, popular in Australia and New Zealand.  Super easy to make, healthy, long lasting, and taste GREAT!
Today's post is on how to make great tasting Anzac biscuits.  But first here's a little bit of history. 

Anzac biscuits were traditionally made using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter (or margarine), golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water, and (optionally) desiccated coconut. Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. The biscuits were sent by wives and women's groups to soldiers abroad because the ingredients did not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation.


Australian Anzac biscuits

The first biscuits, issued to soldiers by the Army, and referred to as "Anzac tiles" or "Anzac wafers", differ from the popular Anzac that we know today.  These Anzac tiles and wafers were hard tack biscuits, a sort of bread substitute, which had a long shelf life and were very hard.

The original recipe for these iconic biscuits was designed to have maximum nutritional value (hence the oats) and were able to stay fresh on the long sea journeys to reach soldiers in Gallipoli (hence no eggs in the mix). Their lovely, dark flavour came from using treacle or golden syrup as a binding agent. The ladies of the day baked them in a batch, stored them in a variety of decorative tins, and sent them to our troops serving overseas.


The ladies of the day baked ANZAC biscuits in a batch, stored them in a variety of decorative tins, and sent them to our troops serving overseas.

Today, Anzac biscuits are tastier, easier to produce, and are easily manufactured commercially for retail sale. Because of their military connection with the ANZACs and ANZAC Day, the biscuits were often used as a fundraising item for the Royal New Zealand Returned Services' Association (RSA) and the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL).  A British (though still Australian-produced) version of the Anzac biscuit, supporting the Royal British Legion, is available in several major supermarket chains in the UK.


The lovely, dark flavour of Anzac biscuits comes from using treacle or golden syrup as a binding agent.

The term Anzac is protected under Australian law and cannot be used in Australia without permission from the Minister for Veterans' Affairs; misuse can be legally enforced particularly for commercial purposes. Likewise similar restrictions on naming are enshrined in New Zealand law where the Governor General can elect to enforce naming legislation. There is a general exemption granted for Anzac biscuits, as long as these biscuits remain basically true to the original recipe and are both referred to and sold as Anzac biscuits and never as cookies.

This restriction resulted in the Subway chain of restaurants dropping the biscuit from their menu in September 2008. After being ordered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs to bake the biscuits according to the original recipe, Subway decided not to continue to offer the biscuit, as they found that their supplier was unable to develop a cost-effective means of duplicating the recipe.

The beauty of these tasty biscuits though, is that they can be made at home using a tried and true method.  Read on to find out just how easy they are to make for yourself.




ANZAC Biscuits Recipe
A recipe for "Anzac Biscuits" first appeared in the War Chest Cookery Book (Sydney, 1917) but actually was for a different biscuit altogether. The same publication included a prototype of today's Anzac biscuit, called Rolled Oats Biscuits. The combination of the name Anzac and the recipe now associated with it first appeared in the 9th edition of St Andrew's Cookery Book (Dunedin, 1921) under the name "Anzac Crispies". Subsequent editions renamed this "Anzac Biscuits" and Australian cookery books followed suit.

When all's said and done though, the biscuits are super-easy to make.  A simple modern recipe from 'Steve's Kitchen recipe is listed below...

Ingredients (makes around 14 biscuits)

120g / 1 cup of All Purpose Flour
200g / 1 cup of Sugar
90g / 1 cup of Rolled Oats
60g / 1 cup of Coconut
115g / 4oz of Butter
2 tablespoons of Boiling Water
2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup
1 teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda

Instructions

In a large bowl add the Flour, sugar, oats and coconut. Give them a stir through.
In a saucepan heat the butter and golden syrup together until melted. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the boiled water and carefully add to the melted butter mixture. Be careful as it will bubble and foam up quite a bit. Stir until combined. Pour the foamy butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed and you have a loose cookie dough.
Form the dough into golf ball size balls and place onto a cookie tray. Allow plenty of room between each ball as the cookies do spread. Place into a preheated oven, 180C / 350F for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
The longer you cook them the more crunchy they will be. Once cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly on the cookie tray before removing to a cooling rack. Once cooled you have delicious Anzac Biscuits so Enjoy!

Like to SEE them getting made instead of following the written instuctions? Well, check out the Steve's Kitchen video below:

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_biscuit

http://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/best-of/top-10-iconic-australian-foods-20160125-gm8zqj

http://steves-kitchen.com/anzac-biscuits/

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