Bake Like an Aussie: ANZAC Biscuits

Belinda D'Alessandro 21 April 2025Cooking Comments (0)

Reading Time: 4 minutes

I learned how to bake from my Australian grandmother. Here are some secrets to creating the perfect biscuit in your own kitchen.

Photograph of Belinda D'Alessandro. Belinda is wearing a red jacket over a red dress and a string of pearls. She is standing in front of windows with shutters — Belinda D’Alessandro

In my last post, I updated my book project list. As of then, I now had ideas for 26 books. I now have 28 projects on my list! I lost one in counting on my spreadsheet, and then another idea exploded in my head.

My brain is now consumed by writing my new project idea. So, here’s another recipe, this time for ANZAC biscuits.

The Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup (150 g) plain flour
1 cup (100 g) rolled oats
1 cup (80 g) desiccated coconut
¾ cup (165 g) caster sugar
150g (5oz) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (90 g) golden syrup
¾ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate soda)

Guide

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan forced)
Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Mix flour, oats, coconut, and sugar in a bowl.
Place butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until butter has melted.
Add baking soda and stir to combine – it will fizz up, this is normal. Immediately remove from heat.
Pour the butter mixture into the flour and mix until just combined.
Roll level 1 tablespoon mixture into balls, flatten into patties. Place balls, 2.5 cm/1″ apart, on prepared trays.
Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway during cooking, or until deep golden. 12 minutes gets you chewy biscuits, and 15 minutes gets you crunchy biscuits.
Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool – they harden as they cool!

Notes

My Mum's version of ANZAC cookies — My Mum’s version of ANZAC cookies

Golden syrup is an amber-coloured sweet syrup made by splitting sugar into glucose and fructose after the sugar’s been extracted from the cane. If you can’t get it, mix a tablespoon of molasses (or treacle) with three tablespoons of honey.

Oats can have different levels of absorbency, depending on a whole number of things and you may need to adjust the mixture. The batter needs to be firm enough to roll into balls without sticking to your hands but flexible enough to flatten the balls without crumbling. Add more flour if it’s sticky and more butter if it is too dry.

I like to put my batter in the fridge before baking. Sometimes, especially in hot weather, it feels like the butter is melting out of the dough (like puff pastry). So to keep the mixture together when baking, throw the mix into the fridge and turn the oven on. Once the oven comes to temperature, you can then form the individual biscuits, put them on the trays and throw them in the oven!

About ANZAC Biscuits for My Non-Aussie Friends

Originally called soldiers biscuits (the name was changed sometime after the Gallipoli landing to honour the ANZACs), they were sent to Australian and New Zealand soldiers (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, hence ANZAC) serving overseas in care packages during WWI.

They were baked by women’s groups like the CWA because of their affordability and long shelf life. They also travel really well! These are biscuits, not cookies.

Both Australia and New Zealand have laws in place around the use of the term ANZAC, including that these are called biscuits rather than cookies. And there are also rules around what goes in them and how they’re made, although there is SOME latitude here.

There will be uproar upon uproar if they aren’t called biscuits. So please call them biscuits!

Why another recipe?

Well, after my last blog post, I’d started to organise my project list… and I woke up at 2 am a few days later and something wasn’t quite sitting right, and realised my count was out! I was one project short on my list! There was 27 on the list!

So I turned on a podcast to help me think… Because what else does one do when dealing with bad spreadsheet maths? And BAM! Spreadsheet says I’m done counting book projects. Brain says, “Not so fast.”

My brain comes up with ANOTHER idea that MUST be written first! While watching a podcast! At 2 am! So now there’s another book on the list.

I’ve now become stuck on getting this new idea written first, and I’ve spent the last 10 days or so getting down on paper (figuratively as well as literally). Which means I’ve again been sidetracked from finishing writing the blog posts I’d started!

So it was time for another recipe!

Final thoughts

These are not your average biscuits. Please try them! I prefer mine chewy over crunchy. Thank you for joining me on another culinary adventure.

I hope you enjoy the secrets of my Nonna’s ragù as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you. So, gather your ingredients, fire up the oven, and let your creativity lead the way.

Until next time, enjoy!