Anzac Biscuits

This week is Remembrance Day and so everyone is out wearing their poppies in honour of those who gave their lives so that we may spend our days baking and worrying about trivial things like whether we have the latest software update for our iPhones.  In New Zealand Remembrance Day is not as widely recognised as it is here in Canada, primarily because we have our own day to recognise our soldiers.  Anzac Day falls on April 25th (also my brother's birthday) and is marked by a public holiday and a dawn service at the War Memorial Museum. One of the primary battles we remember is the Battle of Gallipoli, Turkey, where so many of our men lost their lives in a beach landing gone wrong.  Each year thousands of Kiwis and Aussies make the pilgrimage to Western Turkey to visit this landmark and pay homage to those lost on foreign soil.  While World Wars One and Two have left a mark on almost every Western Nation, I find the link so much more present back home than in Canada, where everyone I know can name family members who lost their lives or lived through the Great Wars. 

Anzac Cove, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey

I was lucky enough to make the trip to Turkey back in 2006, although this did not coincide with Anzac Day services. The peninsula is a hauntingly beautiful place and the memorials to each nation a strong reminder of the hopelessness of War. People who I traveled with that day found ancestors' names on the cenotaph at the Australian Cemetery and I couldn't shake the shiver down my spine as I walked around Chunuk Bair, the New Zealand memorial.

But back to the biscuits.  These snacks were said to have been made by New Zealand women to send to their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers based on the fact that they kept well and were inexpensive to make. Nowadays I'd say we add a bit more sugar, but the intention is still there.  They are available year round in New Zealand and my grandmother has never been one to hold them back until April the way she tends to with other seasonal treats.  You do see a greater prevalence of these around April, and since I am on a bit of a personal mission to learn and practice the history of my family through food this was an important chapter.  I had originally planned to make these in April for my own mini Anzac Day however we had yet to move into our place and so they had to wait.  I was going to start making maple based cookies for Remembrance Day and the good old Kiwi golden syrup favourites in April but decided to start with the basic recipe and branch out as I go. Given their cheap, quick and kinda healthy (oats after all) nature I'd say they won't just be for April or November in our house either.

Lone Pine Cemetery: Australian Memorial to ANZAC Soldiers

I'm not sure whether it's the difference in butter, golden syrup and oats (which proved a mission to find) in Canada but I really struggled with the consistency of these biscuits. Butter is very different here and I must admit I melted a little extra with some additional golden syrup to get these to combine at all. They also seemed to bake a lot faster than the recipe suggests.  Due to these differences mine kinda turned into balls rather than the usual flat, oval biscuit shape you think of. Still they smell like the real thing and that brought back all sorts of memories of Nana's kitchen as a young girl which is precisely what I was after! The taste was pretty similar too - warm, a little soft and straight out of the oven. I'm waiting for when they harden up in a day or so :)

If you're a Kiwi I highly suggest making the pilgrimage to Turkey and I even more highly recommend trying to bake these at least once -  they're an important part of our heritage that I think all of us should embrace. That and they're damn tasty!

1/2 cup standard plain flour
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup coconut
3/4 cup rolled oats
50g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Mix together flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats.  Melt butter and golden syrup.  Dissolve baking soda in boiling water then add to the golden syrup and butter.  Stir butter mixture into dry ingredients. Place level tablespoonful onto cold greased trays. Bake at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes until golden.

They might look funny but they taste just right!