ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day was a quiet affair in our house this year with nobody attending the dawn services as we have in past years when the children were involved in Scouts and Girl Guides. This year we watched the dawn service from the comfort of our bed supping a cuppa.

The above photo are the biscuits that I made especially for ANZAC Day which I have never done before. I was considering why this year and not other years and all I can come up with is that my appreciation and understanding has shifted somewhat and that I wanted to mark that somehow. So we had an ANZAC biscuit or two with our cup of tea following our lunch. I have to say that it is years and years since I have made these biscuits. 

I don't recall ANZAC Day being a big thing when I was younger. It was something that my father was involved in, as he was a driver in the Air Force but not something that as children we were involved in. I don't recall any special attention to it at school either. 

I then started to wonder about the history of the biscuits and how they came to be and why they were called ANZAC biscuits. I had figured that there were no eggs or milk due to the fact that they were in short supply because of the war and totally understand the need of making nutritious foods go a long way.

So of course I had to do a little research and isn't it amazing what we can find out when we google it. They were originally called 'soldier biscuits' - check out the info by clicking on this link - ANZAC Biscuits. The recipe that I used has similar quantities of ingredients to the one on the website but mine came from the Edmonds Cookery Book and uses a different method which I prefer. Here is the recipe that I used:

125g plain flour

150g sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup of rolled oats

100g butter

1 Tablespoon golden syrup

2 Tablespoons boiling water

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats.

Melt butter and golden syrup.

Dissolve bicarbonate of soda with boiling water and add to butter and golden syrup.

Make a well in the dry ingredients, stir in the liquid.

Place spoonfuls of biscuit mixture onto a greased biscuit tray, allowing room for spreading.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or approx 375 degrees F).

Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking tray.

Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy and thanks for visiting.

Cheers

Donna-Maree