ANZAC biscuits

Anzac biscuits are a symbol of remembrance, remembering the soldiers who fought in world war one and world war two and the subsequent battles. The word Anzac refers to the Australia and New Zealand Army Corp. The biscuits were known during the first world war as soldiers biscuits, as they were sent across the world by the women in Australia and New Zealand to their soldiers fighting in Europe. They were ideal to send, being hard and flat and long keeping as they didn’t contain any eggs. The key ingredients are rolled oats and golden syrup.

We remember the Anzacs on Anzac Day – 25 April, being the day that the NZ and Australian troops were decimated in the landing at Gallipoli. Each year I like to make Anzac biscuits to remember (my great grandfather fought in world war one and my grandfather in world war II). I have a history degree as well as my law degree and so have always been fascinated by the wars and the lives and times of the people who lived through them.

I have never really been a great Anzac biscuit maker – I often make them too flat, too soft or a bit overcooked. But this year I tried a new recipe from the Australian womens weekly book “Sweet”. The recipe said to grind the rolled oats to make them more like oatmeal, which I did. I am not sure if that helped the texture of my biscuits, but they were great, exactly what I like in an Anzac biscuit – crispy but chewy and a lovely light golden syrup flavour. I did have to add a bit more melted butter to the recipe to get the dough to stick together. I will be making this recipe again next year.



I am home alone this week. Last night I made myself a delicious salad for dinner. I based it on one in the latest cuisine magazine, but it ended up being quite a different recipe. I ate half last night and saved the rest for tomorrow’s lunch. It’s a pretty healthy salad. I cut a beetroot into batons and steamed it in the microwave with some crushed ginger. To this I added about half a cup of almonds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds toasted in a mixture of brown sugar, ground cumin and coriander, sea salt and a little olive oil, a drained can of chickpeas and some chopped flat leaf parsley. I love beetroot and the crunch of almonds. There was something quite cleansing about this salad.



Anzac Biscuits (adapted from AWW Sweet)

90g butter
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp golden syrup
½ c rolled oats, slightly ground in good processor
¼ tsp baking soda
½ c flour
½ c castor sugar
1/3 c dessicated coconut

· Melt butter and golden syrup together and then add the baking soda and mix well
· Stir in remainder of ingredients
· Roll into balls and flatten slightly
· Bake at 150c for 15-18 minutes
Cool on trays