Anzac Biscuits

Did you know today is Anzac Day?
According to Wikipedia: “Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first campaign that led to major casualties for Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War” and “is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”.

BigSmall’s school is in a little village in Wiltshire that has strong ties with the Anzacs, as the church next door has Anzac War Graves in the graveyard. Every year they hold a service in the Church on Anzac Day, which the children participate in, and people from all over the world come to honour family and friends who are buried there.
This is our first year at the school, but I am told it is a very moving service.
After the service, there is a reception in the Village Hall, and parents have been asked to make Anzac biscuits to bring along to serve for refreshments.
Now, I have made Anzac biscuits before, and they are pretty delicious (dare I suggest possibly even yummier than the homemade hobnobs…?!) so I didn’t need asking twice to make a batch! They are also super easy and a good one to let the Smalls ‘help’ with.

If you fancy making some, here is the recipe I use, from a genuine Australian cook book called Country Classics-A collection of 500 recipes from the Country Women’s Association of Australia!

This is what you need:

• 1 cup of self-raising flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup porridge oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 125g butter
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 tbsps boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

This is what you do:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C
• Grease or line a couple of baking trays
• Melt the butter in a saucepan
• While the butter is melting, mix together all the dry ingredients
• Add the bicarb to the boiling water, and then stir into the melted butter
• Combine the wet and dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well
• Place tbsps of mix on the baking tray (I used a tbsp measure, so had quite rounded balls, which I then squished down slightly)
• Bake in the oven-the book is delightfully vague and says “until brown”. Mine took about 10-12 mins
• Allow to cool a little and firm up a bit before attempting to transfer them to a cooling rack
• Enjoy!