NOTE: These have gone over big at every single Catholic young adult gathering I've brought them to. They're not outright challenging, but have a learning curve, as they're bound with golden syrup instead of eggs.
Apologies if this recipe is long - I edit my recipes obsessively, as I like giving them out to people, so I try to be as detailed as possible with directions.
ANZAC Biscuits
*see note on bottom
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup rolled oats*
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes*
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup*
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour, sugar, oats, and coconut together - set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the syrup and butter together until they are fully incorporated. In a separate container, mix the soda and the boiling water well, and mix into the melted butter and syrup while it is still on the burner. It froths up very aggressively - watch out.
Add the frothy butter mixture to the dry ingredients - mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, so the mixture saturates all of the dry ingredients. You may need to use your hands toward the end to make sure everything is covered. Roll into roughly golf ball-sized portions and place on cookie sheets lined with greased aluminum foil.
Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes, until a deep golden brown. If baked on the long end, these get slightly crunchy – if baked on the lower end, they have a bit of a chew to them.
Be very careful when removing these from the cookie sheet, as the ambient heat turns the golden syrup into molten caramel, and makes these extremely soft to handle. Let them cool on the cookie sheet until they've hardened quite a bit, then peel them off of the foil and finish them off on a cooling rack.
If doubling or tripling your batch, I like to move the cookies (foil and all) onto a kitchen table or counter to let them finish cooling off on top of the foil.
YIELD: 14 cookies
*Rolled Oats - Use traditional rolled oats - don't use the quick-cooking variety.
*Unsweetened coconut flakes - The original recipe uses something called desiccated coconut, which is a chore to find in the United States unless you're resorting to mail order. It has the consistency of coarse sand. If you don't want to do the legwork to get your hands on a bag, I would recommend chopping up regular unsweetened coconut flakes until they take on a similar consistency - I have done this for a few years with no problems.
*Golden Syrup - This CANNOT be substituted. Golden syrup (also called light treacle) is a British product that looks like honey, but is more viscous - it's a boiled and caramelized sugar syrup. I have found it at grocery stores with no major issue, but you usually have to go to the ethnic foods section. If you can't find it, look at a higher-end grocery store, or mail-order it.
You can make golden syrup at home - I have done it myself - but it takes a lot of effort, and you have to have a knack for candy-making. When I make a batch at home, though, it still doesn't have the trademark buttery smooth taste Lyle's does.
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