Anzac Biscuits

For weeks now my husband has been asking about Anzac biscuits. He has been looking for them in the shops to no avail. I decided it was time to step up to the plate and bake some. Some say that these are the national biscuit of Australia and New Zealand. They were developed during WWI for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps hence ANZAC. Women of those countries made them for their soldiers because they would keep well while they were away.

I spent a little time surfing the web and looking through cookbooks, most of the recipes were the same with little tweaks here and there. I mixed things up a bit I wanted to add some brown sugar for flavor so I divided the sugar in the recipe to half granulated raw cane sugar and half muscovado, a flavorful natural brown sugar. Did you know that brown sugar is usually just plain white sugar with a little molasses added back in? I want the real stuff!

These were not exactly what I was looking for, but good none the less. I was really craving chocolate chip cookies, these are not. If you are looking for something crispy, crunchy with a slight chew give these a try. I am glad I did. If you use sweetened coconut be sure to decrease the sugar in the recipe it will be way too sweet.

1 cup (150g) all purpose flour (I used spelt)
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup (100g) rolled oats
1 cup (80g) shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)
1/2 cup (110g) granulated raw sugar
1/2 cup (110g) muscovado sugar or raw brown sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) (110g) butter or your favorite healthy substitute
2 Tbsp molasses or honey (molasses will have more flavor)
2 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment or grease well.

Mix the flour and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the oats, coconut and sugars and mix well. Melt the butter and add the molasses. Stir the melted butter mixture and water into the dry mixture. When combined, scoop out by the tablespoon and roll into balls. Place the balls on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Press down on the cookie dough to flatten a little. Leave plenty of room these will spread a lot.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Leave to cool on the pan until firm then remove to cooling rack. Enjoy, but don’t eat them all at once!