This Day

Today is Anzac Day. A day for quiet reflection and remembrance.

And if all that thoughtfulness gives you an appetite, then you might want to whip up a batch of Anzac biscuits.

First you start with the dry ingredients: 1 cup of rolled oats, 1 cup of plain flour, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of dessicated coconuts (some people also add peanuts. I don't. Moderation in all things.) Mix until well combined.


Then you melt 125g (or so) of butter and two tablespoons (or so) of golden syrup. Remember when golden syrup came in a tin? Bits of syrup would always dribble down the sides of the tin, causing it to stick to the shelf? Grumpy liked this picture the best. He thought the one taken without a flash looked a bit grim and massacre-like.


While this is happening, dissolve a teaspoon of bicarb in three tablespoons of boiling water. Then add it to the syrup mix. As you can see, you might want to do this over the bowl of dry mix. Every year I forget that this will happen.


Mix all this together with the dry ingredients. Place heaped teaspoons of the mixture on greased trays. Allow some space between each blob for spreading - well, they're very sociable little chaps and want to get to know their neighbours. Cook for twenty minutes in a moderately slow oven. The blessed CWA cook book says that moderately slow is 160-180 deg Celsius. Keep an eye on them while they cook, they burn easily.


When done, let them cool on the trays for a few minutes before lifting on to a wire rack. I loosen them while they're still warm on the trays to avoid the tragedy of stuck and broken biscuits.


Then you can eat them. When they're warm, they're chewy; when they're cool, they're crunchy. Either way, they're delicious. Grumpy doesn't care for Anzacs much. He prefers a SAO with butter and vegemite. I'll be taking this lot into work tomorrow.