Originally called ‘Soldier’s Biscuits’, Anzac Biscuits are based on an old Scottish recipe, and were created to have a long shelf life – yet still contain good nutritional value for the Australian soldiers at war at the time.

Wives and Mothers of Australian soldiers, during World War 1, came up with this scrumptious recipe which used specific ingredients that took a long time to spoil. The traditional Anzac Biscuit recipe never contained eggs to bind, as most poultry farmers were out fighting the war themselves. They were most preferably cooked to a crisp, crunchy texture, and packed in tins to ensure they stayed that way.

The traditional recipe contained oats, flour, water, bicarb soda, treacle or golden syrup, desiccated coconut, butter and sugar. This modern adaptation is a healthy, more easily digested recipe – yet, it still tastes like the good ol ‘bikkies’ I recall devouring growing up. I have fond memories of my Nanna’s homemade Anzac Biscuits, even the visual recollection of the fork imprint that was left in each one, after pressing the biscuit batter down prior to baking!

This recipe is nut free, egg free, and can be made dairy free (vegan).

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Ingredients:

(Makes up to 30 biscuits, depending on the size of each)

250 grams organic butter (Alternatives: Ghee, or coconut oil)

4 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup

4 tablespoons hot water

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

2 cups wholemeal spelt flour

1/2 cup almond meal

2 cup rolled spelt flakes (or, rolled oats)

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup rapadura or coconut sugar

(NOTE: these dark sugars caramelise beautifully, and don’t have that sickly sweet flavour that white or raw sugar contains. PLUS they have small amounts of minerals due to being unrefined. Don’t let your kids touch the nasty stuff. Note that dark brown sugar or molasses will not taste the same!)

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ginger powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

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Instructions:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius fan-forced or 175 degrees celsius.

Line oven trays with baking paper (try investing in some unbleached, chlorine free, compostable parchment baking paper from your local health food or organic supermarket)

Slowly melt butter, adding maple syrup towards the end, in small saucepan over low heat until smooth.

Mix spelt flour, spelt flakes, coconut, ginger powder, nutmeg, and sugar in a large bowl.

Combine bicarbonate of soda and boiling water together in a small dish, then add to saucepan of butter and syrup, and stir gently through.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture. Stir well.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place them on baking tray/s and flatten. Space well apart as the mix will expand significantly when cooked.

Bake for *approximately 15 minutes, or until golden.

*I find 15 mins allows the biscuits to be chewy, and another 2 minutes will dry them further and therefore create more of a crunchy biscuit. So it’s up to you!

Remove from the oven, and rest biscuits on trays to cool.

This recipe creates a large number of biscuits – I always figure that it’s good to make more if you’re going to the effort. You will be sad when the biscuit tin runs out. A large batch also means you can share your creation with others! Otherwise, store in an airtight container to keep fresh.

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