ANZAC Biscuits

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day here in New Zealand and Australia. ANZAC Day is a national day of remembrance held every year, on the 25th April, to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli during WW1. These days it serves as a day to commemorate those who lost their lives, and also served and are still serving in military operations for their countries. There are dawn service's held all over both countries and they really are very special to attend.

For today's Home Economics class, we decided to make some ANZAC Bickies*. The story goes, that during WW1, the wives, (and mothers and girlfriends) of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers made these biscuits to send off to their men overseas. Because it took so long for the food to get there the food had to remain edible, even after two months (those old naval vessels were very slow!) and they wanted them to be reasonably nutritional, thus the ANZAC biscuit. These are now sold commercially throughout Aussie and NZ but the homemade ones are so, so, so, so much better!

There are many different versions of the recipe but, essentially they are made with sugar, flour, coconut, rolled oats and golden syrup. Here's the recipe The Fashionista used today.

ANZAC Biscuits

Dry Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups coconut
2 cups rolled oats
3 Tspns baking powder
Melted Ingredients
4 Tbspns water
225 grams butter
2 Tbspns golden syrup

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Make a well in the middle and stir in the melted ingredients. Mix well. Roll mixture into balls (you can make about 30 regular sized ones), and place on a greased tray and gently press flat. Bake in a moderate oven, 180C for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Wait until they cool a bit before eating them as they are still very crumbly, till they cool and harden a bit. 

The Fashionista also threw a handful of peanuts into the mixture before she rolled her last 12 bickies and they were really scrummy too. You can even add some pumpkin or sunflower seeds to the mix if you wish also.

* Bickies is a shortened version of the word biscuits that is commonly used in Aussie and NZ. i.e. "would you like a bickie with your cuppa?"  Biscuits are the same as a cookie in the US. In our homes we grew up with bickie barrels, not cookie jars.