OK— it’s time to get into the kitchen and rattle those pots and pans! You’ve just enough time to bake your next (or first!) batch of ANZAC biscuits with exactly one week to go before Anzac Day. There’s some pretty spurious versions of the famous biscuit that draw on equally dubious recipes that crop up around tables with embarrassing regularity at this time of year.
Few bear any resemblance to the original “Anzac tile” or “Anzac wafer” which was really a bread substitute, and was, perforce, hard-baked to withstand the rigours of life in the field.
The story goes that ANZAC biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients did not spoil easily and because the biscuits kept well during transportation overseas.
Many Australians will be disappointed to learn that the ANZAC biscuit recipe actually originated in New Zealand. The recipe omits eggs due to the scarcity of eggs during the war (most poultry farmers had joined the war effort). Leaving out eggs also ensured that the biscuits would not spoil when shipped long distances.
Rather than being sent to the front lines for the soldiers to eat as some people think, many ANZAC biscuits were commonly eaten at fetes and other public events, where they were sold to raise money to support the war effort. At the time they were often called “soldier’s biscuits”.
Here’s a palatable recipe which bears a faithful resemblance, in spirit at least, to the original:
ANZAC BISCUIT RECIPE
Ingredients
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 125g butter
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
Preparation and cooking
• Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Put the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan on a low heat until butter is melted.
• Mix the boiling water and bi-carb soda in a cup.
• Mix in with the dry ingredients.
• Roll into balls (approximately one teaspoon of mixture per ball).
• Place on oven trays and flatten with a fork.
• Cook at approximately 170 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until golden.
NOW GET BAKING! … and read more here: http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/anzac-biscuit-history-recipe-london/…..
