Anzac Biscuits
Welcome to another edition of pandemic baking, with your host Evil Cake Lady.
Today I thought I would share with you these marvelous biscuits (cookies) from Down Under, the Anzac Biscuit. This is a nice pandemic recipe because it does not require eggs--which lately can be hard to find. The recipe I used was from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan, but here's some recipes from The Guardian, plus some cool history about the biscuit and it's place in the hearts of Australians and New Zealanders. Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait.
The ingredient list doesn't really sing out as amazing; but in this case the sum is greater than its parts. The bulk of flavor comes from the golden syrup and butter--if you don't have golden syrup I have seen suggestions for rice syrup or honey but best you find a lone can or bottle of Lyle's Golden Syrup next time you are trying to avoid people while at the grocery store. (I usually find it with the corn syrup in the baking aisle, or with the maple syrup in the breakfast aisle, or occasionally in the imported foods section near the packages of digestives.) The chewy texture is thanks to the oats and coconut flakes; you can use either sweetened or unsweetened coconut with no change in sugar.
Dorie's recipe calls for plain white sugar, but The Guardian article suggests either brown sugar or raw sugar which would add to the chewiness and caramelly Golden Syrup.
On the day they are made, the biscuits are crisp with a chewy middle thanks to the oats and coconut. The recipe usually calls for sweetened coconut flakes but I use unsweetened with no lack in sweetness. On the following days the biscuit becomes crisp and buttery throughout, calling for a cup of tea or coffee or maybe even a bowl of ice cream.
The butter and golden syrup are heated in a pot until the butter melts. Then a little bit of boiling water and baking soda are stirred into the melty butter, which fizzes up quite satisfactorily.
This fun chemistry is poured over your dry ingredients and mixed up with a spoon. The mixture will be very buttery and not very uniform. Balls of dough are rolled between your now very buttery hands, and pressed flat on the baking sheet.
They bake for about 17 minutes, and need to cool for about an hour to let the butter settle in. That hour feels like a very long hour, so I suggest going out for a walk.
Then it is cookie time.
The Guardian article suggests using coconut oil for those who would like to make them vegan; that would increase the coconutty quotient and still keep them crisp. Anybody out there willing to try and report back?
In the meantime, I'll be enjoying another crispy, buttery, delicious Anzac biscuit. Cheers.
Today I thought I would share with you these marvelous biscuits (cookies) from Down Under, the Anzac Biscuit. This is a nice pandemic recipe because it does not require eggs--which lately can be hard to find. The recipe I used was from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan, but here's some recipes from The Guardian, plus some cool history about the biscuit and it's place in the hearts of Australians and New Zealanders. Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait.
The ingredient list doesn't really sing out as amazing; but in this case the sum is greater than its parts. The bulk of flavor comes from the golden syrup and butter--if you don't have golden syrup I have seen suggestions for rice syrup or honey but best you find a lone can or bottle of Lyle's Golden Syrup next time you are trying to avoid people while at the grocery store. (I usually find it with the corn syrup in the baking aisle, or with the maple syrup in the breakfast aisle, or occasionally in the imported foods section near the packages of digestives.) The chewy texture is thanks to the oats and coconut flakes; you can use either sweetened or unsweetened coconut with no change in sugar.
Dorie's recipe calls for plain white sugar, but The Guardian article suggests either brown sugar or raw sugar which would add to the chewiness and caramelly Golden Syrup.
On the day they are made, the biscuits are crisp with a chewy middle thanks to the oats and coconut. The recipe usually calls for sweetened coconut flakes but I use unsweetened with no lack in sweetness. On the following days the biscuit becomes crisp and buttery throughout, calling for a cup of tea or coffee or maybe even a bowl of ice cream.
The butter and golden syrup are heated in a pot until the butter melts. Then a little bit of boiling water and baking soda are stirred into the melty butter, which fizzes up quite satisfactorily.
This fun chemistry is poured over your dry ingredients and mixed up with a spoon. The mixture will be very buttery and not very uniform. Balls of dough are rolled between your now very buttery hands, and pressed flat on the baking sheet.
They bake for about 17 minutes, and need to cool for about an hour to let the butter settle in. That hour feels like a very long hour, so I suggest going out for a walk.
Then it is cookie time.
The Guardian article suggests using coconut oil for those who would like to make them vegan; that would increase the coconutty quotient and still keep them crisp. Anybody out there willing to try and report back?
In the meantime, I'll be enjoying another crispy, buttery, delicious Anzac biscuit. Cheers.
These sound delicious and very timely sans eggs!! :)
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