The crunchiness of Anzac Biscuits goes back to the roots of when they were invented – by soldiers’ wives who needed a biscuit recipe that would stay fresh for the months that it would take to reach soldiers overseas back in the early 1900’s.
The warm sweetness from the golden syrup combined with the wholesome goodness of oats and coconut is a flavour that is unique to this crunchy Australian biscuit!
Anzac Biscuits
Australia’s favourite biscuit! We love them for their buttery caramel flavour, how crunchy they are, that it’s a forgiving recipe and the history – this is a biscuit that Aussies make to commemorate ANZAC Day.
“ANZAC” stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. And ANZAC Day – 25 April 1915 – is Australia’s most important national occasion each year, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War during which we suffered heavy casualties.
It is said that the wives of soldiers came up with the original Anzac Biscuits using ingredients such that the biscuits stayed fresh for the weeks it took to reach the soldiers overseas. I’m told that the original Anzac biscuits were as hard as a rock, so hard in fact that some soldiers would grind them up and use them as porridge.
I think Anzac biscuits as we know them today are much more to my liking! 😅
Here’s what you need (not much!)
Golden syrup
The only ingredient that might not be familiar to those outside of Australia and the UK is golden syrup. It’s an amber coloured syrup with the consistency of honey, and it has a toffee flavour. It has a bit of a harsh edge to the flavour so I only use it for baking, though some people use it in place of maple syrup for things like pancakes.
Best substitute for golden syrup is a combination of light molasses or treacle, plus honey. I use 1 part molasses or treacle, and 3 parts honey – the flavour is nearly identical, and the colour is very similar (a bit darker).
How to make Anzac biscuits
The making part is very straight forward – melt butter with golden syrup, add the baking soda then mix it into the dry ingredients. Roll into balls, flatten and bake!
Should Anzac biscuits chewy or crisp??
Apparently, the question of whether Anzac biscuits should be crisp or chewy is a topic of huge debate. 🤷🏻♀️
In my world, there’s no question. Anzac biscuits should be crispy, crispy, crispy!!! Just like the original created by the soldiers’ wives over a century ago! 🙂
But actually, if you want chewy it’s very simple – just reduce the bake time by a few minutes.
See? Anzac biscuits for all! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Anzac Biscuits (Golden Oatmeal Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup desiccated coconut , unsweetened
- 3/4 cup white sugar , preferably caster / superfine
- 150g / 5oz unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp golden syrup (Note 1)
- 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan forced)
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Mix dry: Mix flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
- Melt butter and golden syrup: Place butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium high heat and stir until butter has melted.
- Baking soda: Add baking soda and stir to combine – it will fizz up, this is normal. Immediately remove from heat.
- Biscuit dough – Pour butter mixture into flour and mix until just combined. The mixture will be crumbly but should stick when you press together.
- Form patties – Scrunch / press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into balls, then flatten into patties. (Thinner = crisper, thicker = chewier centre, crispy edges) Place balls, 2.5 cm/1" apart, on prepared trays.
- Bake for 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway during cooking, or until deep golden. (Bake 12 min for chewy biscuits!)
- Cool to crisp – Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool – they harden as they cool!
Recipe Notes:
- 1 tbsp light molasses + 3 tbsp honey or light corn syrup
- 1 tbsp treacle + 3 tbsp honey or light corn syrup
Nutrition Information:
Anzac biscuits originally published July 2014, refreshed in 2019 and 2020. Updated with new photos, new video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added! No change to recipe.
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They are incredible!! I rolled them into teaspoon sized balls instead of tablespoon sized balls – by accident I misread it, and so I ended up baking them for ~10mins (turning the tray at 5mins) and they turned out both crunchy and chewy, just devine! I love this recipe!! Thank you Nagi!
Best Anzac biscuits ever, thanks Nagi☺️
Always great recipes without fail. Delicious and super easy Anzac bickies
They turned out perfect, exactly like the picture.
Would these work with gf flour ?
HELP! mine were very sticky and melted together in the oven and the times shown burnt them all round the sides
Absolutely delicious. I didn’t have any golden syrup, so used a mix of honey and coconut molasses. Worked really well.
Finally, I’ve found a recipe that produces the perfect Anzac biscuit. I made a big batch for the kids today. Another awesome Nagi recipe. Even my 15-year-old Poppy dog
(chihuahua/pug) was super excited to try them. 😋
Perfect biscuits, I made with my 5yo granddaughter, she loved helping and eating them 😍😍
Crunchy all the way! And yes, here in Oz they’re biscuits not cookies! Hate the americanisation of using the word cookies 😞
Me too!
Stella, I’m with you all the way on that! I tell my grandkids all the timer: ‘We’re Australian, we eat bikkies or biscuits.’ Recipe is amazing btw 🙂
While the British started a colony in Virginia in the early 17th century, the Dutch started a colony on Manhattan around the same time. “Biscuit” was in use in English at the time, but with a somewhat different meaning than today. At the time, it was used to describe twice-baked breads and cakes. The hard bread which served as a standard ration for soldiers and sailors was biscuit, but it probably also applied to hard-baked confections like biscotti. Meanwhile, the Dutch may or may not have had “koekje,” meaning a little cake; the regular koek is attested to, but the diminutive koekje is harder to find that early. Over the centuries, then, it appears that the meaning of biscuit in British English expanded to take in all small sweet cakes, while in American English, the Anglicized cookie took over, with biscuit remaining in use for small savory cakes, the equivalent British scones.
But it’s difficult to say when Americans started to use cooking instead of biscuit, because different usage at the time means that it’s not clear that biscuit had that usage to take over. And it may be just as valid to ask when the British started to use biscuit to describe what Americans call cookies.
Could you double the oats and omit the coconut!
Ummm no. Not if you want it to be an Anzac biscuit.
While reading the comments I came across someone talking about measurements. I had no idea that they differ from from Canadian! Yikes your recipes have to be adjusted?
Move the toggle just above the ingredient list to metric and get yourself some digital scales.
I’m trying a half almond flour/plain flor batch as we speak… so many GF peeps in my family! Looking good so far! Next will try 50/50 almond/GF flour. Love experimenting!
Stop press: They are slightly different from original but delicious! Thank you Nagi, you have inspired me back into the kitchen… and my young perfectionist son is loving your cook book… went out and bought himself a cast iron skillet to cook for his mates in the share house! 😂😂😂😂🥰
I think I last made Anzac biscuits in 2008.
Have a new oven and this was my test run recipe.
Excellent result, easy peasy, and I’ve made them 3 times in 3 weeks!
Baked this for the second time today. It is a hit with the family. Yum
yum yum!!
Best Anzacs ever.
Used shredded coconut and needed to double the amount to get texture right.
Your recipes never fail
Excellent cookies! What a wonderful recipe and I am now questioning America’s sanity in that we do not use Golden Syrup on everything! Wonderful recipe.
Thank you for posting this RECIPE . I love it . Easy to make . My family loved it too.
I love this and get the same results every time!