Anzac Biscuits 25th April
Recipe: #18603
April 24, 2015
Categories: Oats, Australian, Brunch, Oven Bake, No Eggs, Vegetarian, Flour, Kosher Dairy, more
"This is one of my many different go to ANZAC recipes. Every Aussie has a different take on their ANZAC biscuit, hard , soft, chewy only to name a few. My family is not different and each have their own likes. This is DS's favourite. Please read below for some information on why they mean so much to each and every Aussie! This description is compiled from information supplied by the CWA (Country Woman's ASSOCIATION) Brisbane, the War Widows Guild, Brisbane and Queensland State Headquarters of the RSL. This is one of my go to ANZAC recipes. The acronym ANZAC was coined in 1915 when Australian and New Zealand troops were training in Egypt. The word ANZAC was eventually applied to all Australian and New Zealand soldiers in World War 1. The term is particularly associated with the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. ANZAC Day was inaugurated on 25 April 1916 to commemorate the first anniversary of the landing of the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli. During World War 1 and World War 2, Australians were fiercely patriotic. This can best be described in the words, my country - right or wrong. The wives, mothers and girlfriends were concerned for the nutritional value of the food being supplied to their men. Here was a problem. Any food they sent to the fighting men had to be carried in the ships of the Merchant Navy. Most of these were lucky to maintain a speed of ten knots (18.5 kilometres per hour). Most had no refrigerated facilities, so any food sent had to be able to remain edible after periods in excess of two months. A body of women came up with the answer - a biscuit with all the nutritional values possible. The basis was a Scottish recipe using rolled oats which were used extensively in Scotland, especially for a heavy porridge that helped counteract the extremely cold climate. The ingredients they used were rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water. All these items did not readily spoil. At first the biscuits were called Soldiers' Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits. 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. Eggs that were sent long distances were coated with a product called ke peg (like Vaseline) then packed in air tight containers filled with sand to cushion the eggs and keep out the air. As the war drew on, many groups like the CWA (Country Women's Association), church committees, schools and other women's organisations devoted a great deal of time to the making of ANZAC biscuits. To ensure that the biscuits remained crisp, they were packed in used tins such as Billy Tea tins. You can see some of these tins appearing in your supermarket as exact replicas of the ones of earlier years. Look around. The tins were airtight, thus no moisture in the atmosphere was able to soak into the biscuits and make them soft. ANZAC biscuits are still made today. They can also be purchased from supermarkets and specialty biscuit shops. Around ANZAC Day, these biscuits are also often used by veterans' organisations to raise funds for the care and welfare of aged war veterans."
Ingredients
Nutritional
- Serving Size: 1 (68.8 g)
- Calories 301.6
- Total Fat - 15 g
- Saturated Fat - 9.3 g
- Cholesterol - 32.3 mg
- Sodium - 71.8 mg
- Total Carbohydrate - 38 g
- Dietary Fiber - 2.7 g
- Sugars - 14.2 g
- Protein - 4.7 g
- Calcium - 16.2 mg
- Iron - 1.2 mg
- Vitamin C - 0.2 mg
- Thiamin - 0.1 mg
Step by Step Method
Step 1
Preheat oven to 170°C. Place the flour, oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl and stir to combine.
Step 2
In a small saucepan place the golden syrup and butter and stir over low heat until the butter has fully melted. Mix the bicarbonate soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the water and add to the golden syrup mixture. It will bubble while you are stirring together so remove it from the heat.
Step 3
Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined. Roll a tablespoon full of the mixture into a ball and place onto baking trays lined with non stick baking paper, pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly.
Step 4
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Tips
No special items needed.