3 incredible ANZAC biscuit recipes

The humble ANZAC biscuit has always been a firm family favourite but with so many recipes, it can be hard to know which one to use.

We surveyed our team to bring you three of the best ANZAC biscuit recipes that you can recreate in your own home.

These recipes make great meals or accompaniments to family dinners both in the home or out on the road so make sure you bookmark this article for your next family road trip.

Monique Bowley’s Traditional ANZAC Biscuit recipe

by Monique Bowley

Monique’s recipe is one of the best recipes we’ve found. There are no fancy ingredients and its super traditional and simple. Monique won a Blue Ribbon at the Royal Adelaide Show and she baked them on The Great Australian Bake-off TV show which is a testament to its taste.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 cup of raw sugar
• ¾ cup desiccated coconut
• 1 cup plain flour, sifted
• 125 g butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Golden Syrup
• ½ tsp bicarb soda
• 3 tablespoons boiling water

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, no fan. (If your oven is fan-forced, drop it down to 160 degrees)

2) Line a baking tray with baking paper.

3) Place the oats, coconut, flour, and sugar in a bowl, and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Melt the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat. In a separate bowl, combine the bicarb and boiling water, then add this to the butter/syrup mixture. It will probably foam up and increase in size. That’s good. Pour this foaming mess into your dry mix and stir.

4) Once it’s all combined, roll into golf ball-sized balls, or, using a spoon, drop mixture onto trays, spacing them about 6cm apart.

5) Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Sometimes if your oven is a bit shit, like mine, you need to rotate the trays by 180 degrees halfway through baking so you get an even bake.

6) Cool on trays, or transfer to wire racks. Store in an old biscuit tin that you found in an op shop, or swiped from your grandma., They’ll last months. Try not to scoff them all within the day.

Recipe via Monique Bowley: Check out her blog for a few extra tips on her blog about creating the perfect biscuit

Best ANZAC recipe of all time

by Women’s Weekly

The Australian Women’s Weekly ANZAC biscuit recipe is a firm favourite here at Jayco. These are a little crispier than Monique’s but delightful nonetheless. If you like them a little softer, reduce the temperature slightly.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (90g) rolled oats
• 1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (40g) desiccated coconut
• 125 g (4 ounces) butter, chopped
• 2 tbsp golden syrup or treacle
• 1 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Method

1) Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.

2) Combine oats, sifted flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl. Place butter, syrup (spray the measuring spoon with cooking-oil so all the syrup comes away) and the water in a small saucepan; stir over low heat until smooth. Stir in soda, then stir into dry ingredients.

Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls; place 5cm (2-inches) apart on trays, flatten slightly. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden; cool on trays.

Recipe via Australian Women’s Weekly

Chewy ANZAC biscuit Recipe

by Allison Reynolds

Culinary detective Allison Reynolds spent a long time researching the humble ANZAC biscuit. She read war files and family textbooks to trace the origins of the much-loved national biscuit for her book ANZAC Biscuits: The power and spirit of an everyday national icon.

One of our favourite recipes comes from her book and the chapter ‘Crispy versus chewy’

Makes 26–30 biscuits.

Ingredients

• ½ level cup / 75g plain flour
• ½ level cup / 75g self-raising flour
• 1 cup / 90g rolled oats (not instant)
• 1 cup / 70g desiccated coconut
• 1 cup / 200g sugar (try half caster and half-soft brown sugar – see note at bottom)
• 125g butter
• 1 x 20mL tablespoon of golden syrup (open the lid and stand the tin in a bowl of hot water to soften before measuring)
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (bicarb)
• 1 tablespoon boiling water (you may need to add a little extra water when you bind the ingredients together so that you can form a ball in your hand)

Method

1) Pre-heat oven to 170C / 325F / 150C fan-forced / Gas 3.

2) Line two baking trays with baking parchment or lightly oil.

3) Mix flours, oats, desiccated coconut and sugar in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat, add golden syrup (dip tablespoon in hot water before measuring), stir till dissolved, bring gently to boiling point then remove pan from heat.

4) Mix boiling water and bicarb and stir till dissolved. Add this to the hot melted mixture and stir till it froths up the pan.

5) Carefully add the frothy mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. If a little dry, add ½ tablespoon of extra water to help bind it together.

6) Press biscuits down using a fork, the back of a spoon, or the bottom of a cup measure. Place trays in the oven.

7) After 15 minutes take trays (1 tray at a time) out of the oven and press biscuits flat again.

8) Return trays to the oven and continue baking for a further 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown (they will be soft).

9) Leave the biscuits on the trays for barely a minute – just enough time for the biscuits to firm up slightly before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Once cooled, store these delicious biscuits in an airtight tin.

Note: It seems we had a sweeter tooth in days gone by! It is possible to reduce the sugar by up to ½ cup without it affecting the recipe too much.

Recipe via: ANZAC Biscuits: The power and spirit of an everyday national icon by Allison Reynolds.