Today's ANZAC day, so no better time to try making the biscuits! I was following a friend's recipe which was a bit of a kerfuffle, but overall I had a very fun time. She warned that "these would spread drastically", but I didn't realize the sheer extent.
I'm not posting the exact recipe because I think the ratio of the ingredients could do with some adjustment, but the commonalities to every single ANZAC Biscuit recipe are as follows:
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Mix all the dry ingredients together (oats, flour, sugar, salt, etc). This is also when you add in anything else you want. E.g. dessicated coconut, cranberries, chocolate.
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Melt the butter
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Add the Chelsea's Golden Syrup to the butter (this is what gives Anzac biscuits its trademark flavour. I've yet to taste it individually, but I'm told it's treacle like in flavour).
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Add bicarbonate of soda/baking soda to boiling water. It'll froth up, then pour it into the melted butter + Golden Syrup mixture, which will also froth up too. Be careful when stirring.
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Add your wet mixture to your dry
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Stir to incorporate
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Form into golf ball sizes and leave space because it'll spread
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Cool on wire rack
I asked my friend before baking if I should freeze the batter in the fridge--it felt a bit too wet, in my experience. She said she didn't think so, but then when I showed her the final result, she said, "oh yeah, then you should've frozen it!"
So then I froze it.
- And at first glance, it looked better because it was spreading a lot less
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But then when it was cooling, it spread to the exact same size. Upon which we guessed it was because I took out the dessicated coconut. I only did so because my partner hates dessicated coconut. She's not even here anymore, we're long distance
and still I took it out on reflex. -
Still, it's kinda cute when you stack it up like this.
Flavour wise, it's really got that treacle tart-ish flavour that's a lot deeper than caramel. I gotta say, when I was in London, I spent 3-4 days looking for treacle tart under the false belief that this was a common dessert and I finally found one in a bakery in Knightsbridge. Sheesh.
It was okay. (The treacle tart, I mean.)
Texture-wise, it's the oats that make it, but I think dessicated coconut and cranberries are a fantastic addition to ANZAC biscuits.
They're biscuits, by the way. Biscuits. Not cookies.
🗿 I don't think I've ever called a biscuit a 'biscuit'. I've only ever used the word 'cookie' my whole life.
YOUR HONOUR, I THINK I DESERVE A BREAK BECAUSE I LEARNT ALL MY ENGLISH FROM AMERICAN TV SITCOMS.
