April, 2018 - Retro Food For Modern Times

In commemoration of ANZAC Day, which is today, April 25, I made Anzac biscuits.

Anzac biscuits are made primarily from rolled oats, golden syrup and coconut. They first appeared in recipe books in 1921 but are thought to have been sent to the troops in WW1 by mothers at home worried about the nutrition of their sons. Because they are eggless, they were able to survive the months-long trip to the front from Australia and New Zealand.

They are now a teatime staple. But the debate rages – should an Anzac biscuit be crispy or chewy?

Up until now, I was firmly in the crispy camp. I like my biscuits to have some crunch to them. But this month in the Tasty Reads book club we are doing the Relish Mama Family Cookbook and Nellie Kerrison’s recipe is for chewy Anzacs.

So chewy Anzacs it was. Ever the sceptic, and thinking there was no way they could be as good as a crispy Anzac, I tried one, still warm from the oven.

And then another one. Just to check I hadn’t been mistaken in thinking the first one was so good.

Then a third.

I ate eight of them the first night.

I would now like to point out that this in no way reflects greed but a strict adherence to the scientific method of testing a hypothesis several times to ensure that the results of an experiment can be duplicated.

This was the first recipe I have made from this book. I am looking forward to many if they are the standard of the Anzacs. Here it is: