The 25th of April is Anzac day in New Zealand. It was originally a national holiday in honour of the New Zealand and Australian soldiers, my grandfather included, who fought in the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I.
The Battle of Gallipoli was one of the allies greatest failures. It took place on the Gallipoli Peninsula in modern day Turkey between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War. A joint British and French operation was mounted to capture Constantinople and secure a sea route to Russia. There were heavy casualties on both sides and resulted in one of the greatest victories of the Turks.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The day is now a national day of remembrance for all New Zealanders and Australians who served in all wars.
Last Thursday was Anzac Day and I made these special Anzac biscuits in commemoration of the soldiers. My grandfather never spoke about his war experience which included getting wounded and being sent back to the front once healed until he was quite elderly. Of course, there are no soldiers left who fought in World War I and very few who fought in World War II. But, with Anzac Day, we will never forget what they sacrificed for our freedom.
These biscuits were made by the women left at home and sent to the soldiers in care packages. The recipe I have used is fairly authentic except that it is low Fodmap. It is adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay in Modern Classics Book 2.
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup of my gluten-free flour blend
- ⅓ cup cane sugar
- ¾ cup shredded coconut
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 125g/4oz butter
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp hot water
- Preheat the oven to 160°F/325°F.
- Melt the butter with the golden syrup on the stove.
- Mix the baking soda with the water to dissolve it.
- Add to the butter mixture. It will froth up.
- Combine the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix the dry ingredients with the wet.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the tray and flatten slightly.
- Bake for 10 minutes,
- Remove and cool a little before moving to a cooling tray.
The Battle of Gallipoli was a real horror show. So fitting to have a day commemorating those brave soldiers. Great looking biscuit! Although it’s quite simple, I really like the bottom photo – nice 3-dimensinality. Good stuff – thanks.
Thanks, I do like lining up food! LOL.
Movies of the battle show the horror and the stupidity of the leaders who made the decisions – and also they were dropped on the wrong beach! It’s hard to think about it, especially since my grandfather was there as a very young man. I look at my son now and shudder at the thought of him in such a nightmare.
What a great treat to remember those brave soldiers. Thanks for the history and for the introduction to a new type of biscuit. They would go perfect with my morning tea or coffee.
They are very tasty, Nancy, and simple to make.
I love that Julia Child quote! Your biscuits look wonderful.
Julia Child did come up with some great one-liners.
I love that you created an ANZAC recipe that you can eat. I love that they used to post these biscuits.
It’s actually pretty close to the wheat flour version. The golden syrup gives them a great caramel-like flavour.
It’s amazing your grandfather survived the horrors of that horrific campaign however, I’m not surprised he never spoke of what he went through. My grandfather was in WWII and he was in the airforce and shot down of Belgium, captured by the Nazis and spend 4 years as a POW in that POW camp made famous by The Great Escape. But he never wanted to talk of his experience. Those poor buggers were so traumatised by all they went through, experienced and saw that they were most often reluctant to re-visit the experience. I love ANZAC biscuits! xx
Your grandfather had a fascinating story too. I don’t wonder either that they could never talk about it. Why would you talk about something that was so traumatising. There are things that have happened in my life that I can’t talk about too and they don’t vaguely resemble what the soldiers went through. Your grandfather was semi-famous by association!
I miss these biscuits and have seen them occasionally at International Food Stores, we would get them every time my aunts visited us from Auckland. Yours look delicious!
I love that you know these biscuits. I was wondering if they were uniquely from Downunder.
I love the oats and coconut in Anzac cookies. These are a perfect way to mark the day!
It’s a great combination for a biscuit especially with the addition of the golden syrup.
What perfect Anzac cookies Suzanne. The story never grows old in the telling. Thanks for the history
Thanks, Tania. We definitely should never forget so history doesn’t repeat itself.
I love the quote, Julia is amazing. I remember celebrating Anzac day in Australia. We had delicious food as well. But we did not have such a healthy biscuits.
Julia has the most amazing quotes, said in such a dry tone.
Ooooh, love your blog & beautiful photos! Plus who can resist a beautiful ANZAC biscuit and these look delicious!
Thank you so much. Anzac biscuits are a great biscuit with the mix of flavours.
Whilst surfing for gluten free recipes we discovered your website and were horrified to see the ANZAC biscuit recipe classified as gluten free. Gluten is present in wheat, barley , rye and OATS.
We have a daughter with coeliac disease and so have some knowledge. The Coeliac Australia Website states “In people with coeliac disease the immune system reacts abnormally to gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats), causing small bowel damage”
Your recipe may be Low FODMAP but is definitely NOT Gluten Free
I am sorry to hear about your daughter. That’s a hard thing to live with. My research has shown that oats don’t inherently contain gluten but that they are processed on plants that process other gluten-containing grains and so gluten-intolerant people are advised to be careful of oats. But, you can buy gluten-free oats, which are specially made in a gluten-free plant. If I have somehow understood this incorrectly, please give me a link and I will check it out. Thank you for taking the time to comment on my post.
Thankyou for your response, unfortunately our understanding differs from yours.
Please refer to the following link from Coelic Australia’s website on its position on Oats.
https://www.coeliac.org.au/coeliac-disease/faq.html
Also copied from their position statment at the end of the FAQ
“In Australia, ‘gluten free’ food is defined by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) in Joint Australian and New Zealand Food Standards Code Standard 1.2.8, Division 3, Paragraph 16. It specifies a gluten free food as a food having no detectable gluten using the universally accepted most sensitive and specific testing method and must also not contain oats or malt(18). As Australia’s Food Standard Code currently states that a product cannot be labelled GF if the product contains oats, oats continue to be excluded from foods labelled as gluten free in Australia(16).”
The debate continues as to whether oats are harmful to people with Coeliac Disease, but according to the food standard code of Australia and New Zealand oats cannot be clasified as Gluten Free.
Hoping this clarifies this issue for you.
Yes, now I can see why there is so much controversy about whether oats are gluten free or not. This sentence says it all: Dr Robert Anderson has found that approximately 1:5 people with coeliac disease react to pure uncontaminated oats i.e. they react to oat avenin. So, not everyone who has Coeliac’s disease will react to oats but you can’t take the risk that your daughter is one. I wouldn’t take that risk either. This has been a very interesting exchange and I have appreciated the opportunity to learn more about this debate and to understand it better.
Golden syrup is not available in the U.S. What xan you substitute it with?
Maple syrup would be fine.
Thanks for the recipe! However, my biscuits crumbled after baking. They were so brittle. Any suggestions?
You have to let them cool completely because they are brittle when hot but they firm up. These are gluten-free and without gums so they will be more brittle because of this than a wheat containing cookie, but mine don’t fall apart when cool.
It’s an amazing gesture of respect to Remember those courageous soldier. Thank you so much for the launch of Crispy biscuits. I think this would be finest amalgamated with my Morning tea.
Every year, we still honour our men who fought in the two World wars. These biscuits are a great way to remember them.