BAKING,  COOKIES,  DESSERTS,  VEGETARIAN

Baking| Anzac Biscuits … the perfect bite! ‘#comfortfood {eggless}

2012/01/20 / 33 Comments

“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
German Proverb

Anzac BiscuitsNom Nom Nom … these Anzac Biscuits  have to be the best cookies I’ve made in a while, a hurried first nibble when they were yet warm, and it was love at first bite. I didn’t care if the kids rejected them; I knew I could devour the whole jar full! They were SO GOOD!Anzac Biscuits He woke up with a smile, trying to charm my angry face. It was past 10am and I wasn’t a happy mother. “Cookieeeeeeee …. Yum! Nice. Can I have another?” She came home early after her exam. ‘Mother, I’m hungers’ she screamed in teen talk. “Me want cookie! Oooooh nice. More? Are these fatty? Another please? Just one more?” That’s the way this cookie crumbled! Day one and the jar half full {or half empty as I saw it!}. I did bake another batch the next day!Eggless Chocolate Orange Tart It was back to the basics for me, baking from memory {the eggless chocolate orange tart above} and  turning pages of cookbooks on the shelf. I suddenly wanted to make ‘ciabatta’ on priority since the net was down {cables been cut in error they say} only to frustratingly remember that the recipe was online; only an offline link remained on my silly desktop!Eggless Chocolate Orange Tart It’s a bit unnerving to see how much one gets attached to the net! I worked in frustration that morning – did laundry, cleaned the kitchen chimney, brushed the pooch, made rough puff pastry {froze it}, made mushroom potato soup, made sweet butter, a base for a tart, then filled it with delicious chocolate filling. … and then these Anzac Biscuits!Anzac Biscuits

An Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water. Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation.

You can read more about their origin and history here.  A point of interest is the lack of eggs to bind the ANZAC biscuit mixture together. Because of the war, many of the poultry farmers had joined the services, thus, eggs were scarce. The binding agent for the biscuits was golden syrup or treacle.

Anzac BiscuitsIts been an exasperating beginning to the year to say the least. While power cuts were something we’ve learnt to live with for long, internet connectivity was taken for granted, a right for a privatized service. No such luck however! Shoddy ISP with rotten customer service makes my blood boil, the past few days on simmer!Anzac BiscuitsThese bites made me feel better instantly; the cookies are the best I’d tasted in a while. I remember biting into crisp, thin, delicious honey oat cookies at the coffee workshop a few months ago, mesmerised by the taste. Came home and googled forever but never found a recipe that promised to please. Anzac BiscuitsThen that morning, no net, no links and I made a rough puff pastry & mushroom potato soup in the Thermomix. Leafing through the pages of the TM cookbook I found Anzac Biscuits. Now I’ve been meaning to make Anzacs for ages, and the minute I saw golden syrup I decided to give the recipe a go. I’ve had a bottle of syrup in my larder for over a year. Yes, looked like a cookie I would enjoy; was happy to note ‘no eggs’ . Minor changes … knocked off the coconut as the teen can’t stand coconut it and substituted it for chopped walnuts to make the cookie a little more wholesome.

Anzac BiscuitsThere’s something so charming about the taste, something quite addictive. The cookies are crisp on the outside yet offer this slightly chewy comforting centre within. Also, they have a butterscotchy flavor that I really like, a honeyish hue possibly due to the syrup and butter being melted together. I love the depth the walnuts add to them, though I think coconut would be wonderful too.Anzac BiscuitsI reduced the sugar slightly from the original recipe, and baked them slightly thicker and thus longer. Maybe next time a little whole wheat flour substitution might happen, but all in all these were the perfect bite. Made me forget that silly internet, the lack of connectivity. Just proves that food comforts … and how!

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Recipe: Anzac Biscuits
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Summary: Sweet, chewy inside, crisp on the outside, delicious and  wholesome bisuits. Cookies that are simple to make and very addictive. They have a long shelf life but disappear too fast to prove it!

Prep Time: 7-10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 120gm unsalted butter
  • 100ml golden syrup {I used Solar}
  • 1tsp baking soda
  • 65gm sugar
  • 65gm brown sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 150gm plain flour, sifted
  • 100gm rolled oats
  • 50gm walnuts, chopped fine

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 170C
  2. Heat butter and golden syrup in a pan over low heat till the butter melts and the two mix together. {Can do it in the microwave too}
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. The dough will be a little stiff.
  4. Drop tbsp of dough on parchment lined cookie sheets, flatten with the tines of a fork. {I rolled the dough into balls, flattened them slightly with the palm of my hand, and then further flattened them by pressing down with a fork.}.
  5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
  6. Leave to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes {they are quite tender when they come out of the oven} , and then transfer on racks to cool completely.
  7. Thermomix Recipe:
  8. Place butter & golden syrup into TM bowl. Heat for 2 minutes at 60C on speed 2 until fully dissolved. Place bicarb into bowl and mix for 5 seconds on speed 3.
  9. Add remaining ingredients and set dial to closed position and mix for 30-35 seconds on interval speed…. then continue as above from step 4.

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About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

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33 Comments

  • Jyoti

    2012/01/20 at 8:41 pm Reply

    I have been a silent follower of your blog for a long time now.. So thought to drop a line here.. Your pictures are just awesome–out of the world. And I am hooked to the screen of my laptop as I see them.. too good..

    These Anzac biscuits have been on my to bake list for a long time and I am bookmarking this recipe.. Will try them soon..
    Cheers

  • Sarvani

    2012/01/20 at 8:56 pm Reply

    Apart from no eggs, I also like the use of oats and brown sugar. makes the guilt more bearable..since no one is gonna stop at one!! As for the photographs,, each time you come up with stunners!!

  • Maureen

    2012/01/20 at 9:07 pm Reply

    I’ve never had a chewy anzac biscuit before. The only chewy I got was after dunking them in a cup of tea. A bite for me and a bite for the dog. He loves anzac bikkies.

    I’m going to try your recipe and see what chewy on the inside tastes like!

  • Jamie

    2012/01/20 at 10:00 pm Reply

    How about a plate of Gratin followed by a plate of cookies and a cup of coffee? Love it! They look perfect! And whew you are a whirlwind of baking …. I feel so lazy! But now inspired! xo

  • Maia

    2012/01/20 at 10:33 pm Reply

    What delicious sounding cookies – how on EARTH could any child resist those? Two things in your post made me smile: the first, that you called these cookies “Biscuits.” (My husband and I had a now-legendary argument while driving several years ago about whether “Petit Ecoliers” were cookies or crackers. We arrived home and checked the box to find that they were neither… they are called “biscuits!” So both of us were wrong. We now playfully reference that episode at times when we disagree!)

    The second was your description of how much you accomplished in one morning. Inhuman, really!

  • Anamika

    2012/01/21 at 2:33 am Reply

    Wow these look very tempting indeed…kudos to you to channelise all your anger in such an edible way!!

  • Patricia Shea

    2012/01/21 at 5:32 am Reply

    These sound just wonderful – maybe I’ll make them for Australia Day next week – may I share this recipe on my blog with all credit to you?

    Cheers,
    Patricia

  • Nisha

    2012/01/21 at 7:22 am Reply

    I can imagine the frustration of no electricity and no internet.
    In Maharashtra I experienced total 8 hours of load shedding (power outage) per day during my vacations. It was horrible.
    Sorry to hear you have to go through all this.

    I’m bookmarking this recipe since these cookies are eggless. Will search for golden syrup.
    Nice bright pictures : )

  • Suma

    2012/01/21 at 8:31 am Reply

    Internet and power have such a powerful sway over us! I sometimes call the power supply to know if there is a power-cut sometime soon when I plan bake! But then, you have made a whole lot of things, whoa! The tart looks very inviting, I wish I had an orange tree too!

    Love Anzac cookies, and been looking for a recipe, these look super, bookmarked to try soon!

  • Smita

    2012/01/21 at 10:05 pm Reply

    These look divine!! But please tell me what can I substitute Golden Syrup with!?! I am not much of a cook so anything I can easily find in the local market would be great :-p

    I love the blue ribbon around your biscuits! 🙂 and being a papercrafter who loves working with ribbon, I’d love to know where you got those from! :))

    hugs,
    Smita

  • Vijitha

    2012/01/21 at 11:05 pm Reply

    Wonderful pictures! Ah I can just browse through post and keep admiring at the gorgeous clicks all day long. Those cookies look perfect and crunchy. I don’t think I can stop with one. No one can eat just one (wink)

  • Sonal

    2012/01/23 at 8:17 am Reply

    Deeba ji, I have been following your blog just for lovely clicks and seeing things that I dared not try 🙂 But these cookies made me jump right in and try making something for once. They came out amazing!! Your instructions and steps were great. My family loved these cookies. Thank you so much!

    Sonal

  • Catherine67

    2012/01/24 at 2:31 am Reply

    Great! Thank you for sharing the Anzac Biscuits recipe. I will surely try this out, they looks yummy!

  • Jyoti

    2013/06/28 at 11:32 pm Reply

    Made these today. They are too good..have already eaten 2-3 of them. I am sure to make it more often.

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