Thursday, October 2, 2008

Australian Anzac Biscuits

I'm delighted that my daughter's school has adopted an international focus in their curriculum. I hopped on board the cooking committee, and our first mission was to make Australian Anzac Biscuits for the entire school. How fun! There were four of us baking, and there was enough for the staff, too. These traditional biscuits were baked by anxious wives and mothers during WW I, packed & sent to the Australian soldiers in the trenches.



I veganized the recipe (easy since it didn't call for eggs), and tweaked it slightly (my changes in parenthesis), and these cookies (actually called "biscuits") are simply delicious!
Appropriate for schools since they aren't obscenely unhealthful, and are basically allergen-free without nuts or dairy. You could probably make them gluten-free using 1 1/4 c. spelt flour instead of white.



Anzac Biscuits
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup desiccated coconut (I used regular & processed it to fine in my food processor)
1 cup white flour
1 cup sugar
125g (4oz) butter (Earth Balance, of course)
2 tablespoons golden syrup (I used 2 tbsp. brown rice syrup & 1 tsp. molasses)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon boiling water

Preheat oven to 300F
1. In a big bowl, mix oats, flour, sugar & coconut together.
2. In a little bowl, melt syrup, molasses, & butter together.
3. In a baby bowl, mix soda with boiling water. Add to melted butter and syrup. Then, add that to dry ingredients.
4. Place 1 tablespoonfuls of mixture on parchment paper lined cookie sheets (allow room for spreading). Bake for 20 minutes.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

OOo - those look tasty.

FYI - spelt is not gluten-free. Some people who are allergic to wheat can eat it, but celiacs definitely can't.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

doh! thanks vegan knitting! :)

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

My kids aren't allergic to gluten, so I'm always learning from posts on this site, and you're right, spelt flour contains gluten, but it turns out that it is tolerated by many people with gluten allergies. Here's a site with a list of nonwheat flours:

http://www.foodsubs.com/Flournw.html

tofufreak said...

i'd read about anzac biscuits before but never bothered trying to make them because of the "golden syrup" found in every recipe. thanks for the veganized recipe! i'll have to try it out soon!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Soooo fabulous that your daughter's school in incorporating an international focus into the curriculum!! Love those biscuits.

Cute koala!! :0)

Anonymous said...

Mmmm... I love Anzac cookies :-)

Kev said...

I'm happy to see you like Anzac biscuits, I'm sure my Anzac granddad would have been also. I make these for my kids too. For home, I add macadamia nuts, but for school, where they are not allowed to take any nuts, I put in pepitas. I've also used honey instead of golden syrup (which is just sugar and water according to the bottle of it I have), but your idea of malt sounds good too.

Amy said...

Oh Man. Anzacs!!!! Golden syrup is everywhere in Australia. You might want to try adding some dark molasses - the biscuits are traditionally darker.

Golden syrup is insanely good on fresh white bread with margarine.... So unhealthy....

aTxVegn said...

I've never had an Anzac biscuit, but anything with coconut sounds great to me. I hope we will see more of your international goodies.

moi + toi PHOTOGRAPHIE said...

they sound so good! My dream place to go is to australia... I cant wait to be a mom and be on the food committee!! way to go!

Regina said...

I have an Ausie uncle and he told me about these a long time ago. I make them every year during the holidays. SO yummy!

DJ said...

So funny, I have a really simple vegan recipe for Anzac biscuits in a WWII cookbook that I was reading just the other day - what with eggs and butter being rationed in the UK at the time, vegan options were a necessity rather than a choice...

Veggie said...

Oh yum, I love Australia and these cookies, I'm going to try your recipe next time.

I've used corn syrup (it has the same consistency and almost the same flavour) in some other recipes instead of "golden syrup" it would probably work here to. They just wouldn't have that touch of that caramel flavour that golden syrup has.

Theresa said...

Yum, I love anzac bickies. Yours look really fantastic!

Carrie™ said...

These sound like a tasty old fashioned oatmeal cookie. YUMMY!! Biscuit is used in the UK to describe a cookie. It's also used to describe a cracker. My grandmother used to call the crackers you have with soup 'soda biscuits'.

urban vegan said...

I am having flashbacks! I was in a relationship with a WW1 historian for 9 years. He would love these.

Actually, so would I!

vko said...

Oh- they look yummy and that koala is too cute for words...

Aurelie said...

Interesting cookies. Did you bake cookies for the entire school, or did the rest of the committee help out? Just wondering if the rest of the committee made vegan cookies too, or whether it was just you.

Aurelie
delectablevegetable.blogspot.com
http://aurelieshealthycuisine.com

P.S. I love the kangaroo drawings on the plastic bags! So cute, did you draw them?

bazu said...

oh yum, they look so tasty! and the first photo with koala is super cute! I've said it before and I'll say it again- your kids are so very lucky.

Unknown said...

This recipe is great! There's a place called Tealuxe about 1 block from where I work that sells vegan Anzac cookies. I just fell in love with that buttery crunchy taste, so I had to make them myself. I found the golden syrup and I have to say, it really has such a unique flavor. I wouldn't sustitute if you don't have to! Thanks for the great recipe!

Raw Marcos' Blog said...

No, no, no. You must use Lyle's Golden syrup when making Anzac biscuits. Once you use it once in the recipe you'll understand why. In fact, Aussies use either Lyle's Golden Syrup or another syrup close in taste and texture.

Cheers,

Mark

Anna said...

Fixing these down under for study motivation - if we're talking international focus, you might like to know these are a New Zealand thing too! (ANZAC - Australia AND New Zealand Army Corp)