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Anzac Biscuits
These chewy-crisp, buttery oatmeal-coconut cookies are native to Australia, where they had their origin back in World War I. Legend has it that wives and mothers would mail them to their soldiers in ANZAC — the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps — because, without eggs and being quite sturdy, they traveled and kept well.
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup shredded or flaked sweetened or unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter*
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup or dark corn syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- *If you use unsalted butter, increase the salt to a heaping 1/4 teaspoon.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line them with parchment paper.
- Stir together the oats, flour, sugar, salt, and coconut.
- Place the butter and syrup in a small saucepan or microwave-safe container, and cook or microwave until the butter has melted and the mixture is bubbling.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the baking soda and boiling water, then stir in the hot butter. Be prepared: the mixture will bubble up energetically. This is why you're using a medium (rather than small) bowl.
- Stir the butter mixture into the dry ingredients.
- Drop the dough, by teaspoonfuls, onto the prepared baking sheets. A teaspoon cookie scoop works well here. Leave at least 1 1/2" between them; they'll spread quite a bit.
- Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes, until they're a deep mahogany brown; the cookies are meant to be crisp/crunchy and dark brown, not chewy/light brown.
- Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool them right on the pan. Store, well wrapped, for a week or so at room temperature; freeze for longer storage.
- Yield: about 3 dozen 2 1/2" cookies.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size 1 bisquit (17g)
- Servings Per Batch 36
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories 70
- Calories from Fat 30
- Total Fat 3.5g
- Saturated Fat 2g
- Trans Fat 0g
- Cholesterol 5mg
- Sodium 75mg
- Total Carbohydrate 10g
- Dietary Fiber 1g
- Sugars 6g
- Protein 1g
* The nutrition information provided for this recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.
Tips from our bakers
- If you're a fan of salty-sweet cookies, sprinkle these with a bit of salt (extra-fine preferred) before baking.
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Reviews
Anzac biscuits are so buttery delicious. (combination of butter, coconut and nuts is such a great flavor). I accidently burnt one batch and my husband devoured those. So easy to make, addictive taste and texture. I used your glutenfree flour and they looked just like the photo. This recipe is a keeper.
I love cookies and these Anzac biscuits were excellent. I have made them 4 times with superb results each time. I pack the dough into a rectangular pyrex pan, chill for several hours, turn them out, and then slice them. The result is outstanding. Thanks!
The taste was excellent, however, the spread out too much. The end result was very thin and lacy, not the thickness I expected. I don't mind the thinness, but from all of the photos I've seen they seem to be thicker than how mine turned out. I've made another batch and have it resting in the fridge. May cook them for less time, also. Perhaps that will help. Otherwise the taste is delicious.
Love the taste but found mine to be very similar to Florentines...used all brown sugar...really nice carmalization...one question...i only had quick oats...what type of oats should I use? Is there a specific size or cut? Thank youWe recommend using old-fashioned rolled oats for best results, fellow baker. Avoid anything that says "quick oats" or "instant oats," as those are more processed and won't give you the same chewy texture that we're looking for in these biscuits. We hope that helps, and happy baking! Kye@KAF
Mine were delicious, but the dough was hard to work with - very crumbly. I really had to work at it to have it stick together enough to put out on cookie sheet! Worth every minute!
Chewy and crunchy at the same time. I didn't have dark corn syrup or Lyle's, so I substituted 1 T. light corn syrup and 1 T. honey. Used half all purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour. I also added some walnuts, because I love nuts in my cookies. Way better than the store bought version. I might try experimenting with reducing amount of sugar.
My cookies turned out more like florentines, thin, sweet and very buttery - not bad, just not what was described (they would not have survived shipment). I weighed the flour using the weight/volume exchange listed on the KAF all-purpose flour bag of 120g per cup. I did not have golden syrup and substituted the suggested dark corn syrup; the coconut was unsweetened. Perhaps the problem was that the baking soda did not bubble up when I added the butter/syrup mixture. The dough rested in the refrigerator for 10 or 15 minutes while I waited for the oven to be free. The dough was easy to handle, not at all dry, and I portioned it out using a #100 scoop and patted the balls down slightly. The yield was 53 cookies.
This cookie is a bit lacy yet sturdy. Please try again with the listed ingredients. We would love to hear how it goes the next time around! Elisabeth@KAF
Delicious and incredibly easy. I used golden syrup that I bought online and dark brown sugar. I also used KAF white whole wheat flour. Mine turned out chewy which I really prefer over a crispy cookie. The coconut flavor is very subtle.
Crispy, crunchy, not too sweet cookie. I added a teaspoon of almond extract and it boosted the flavor. These might also be good with toasted nuts (pecans?). This recipe is easy to follow, the cookies cooked a little quicker in my oven (medium brown in 10-12 min.). This recipe is a keeper. Made with white whole wheat flour, the taste and texture are awesome. One down side is that the batter is quite dry compared to batters that use eggs and the dough had to be shaped by hand into small balls; it was easy to do though and the results are worth the effort. I doubled the recipe to have enough to share with family and friends.
I make a lot of cookies and biscotti for my mother. She made everything for us when I was little and now she is no longer able. Anyway. the first time I made these they didn't spread at all. So I thought maybe I just missed something in a rush. I made them again and low and behold, the same thing. Not one millimeter wider. So hey, third time is the charm right? Yes they turned out just great. Honestly I didn't have room for the last cookie and I ate it raw. To be honest though, my mother is Diabetic and I was using Slendia fake sugar the first two times. Don't try that it doesn't work at all, trust me on that one. Also 10-11 minutes is fine. They are very good.
