The crunchiness of Anzac Biscuits goes back to the roots of when they were invented – by soldiers’ wives who needed a biscuit recipe that would stay fresh for the months that it would take to reach soldiers overseas back in the early 1900’s.
The warm sweetness from the golden syrup combined with the wholesome goodness of oats and coconut is a flavour that is unique to this crunchy Australian biscuit!
Anzac Biscuits
Australia’s favourite biscuit! We love them for their buttery caramel flavour, how crunchy they are, that it’s a forgiving recipe and the history – this is a biscuit that Aussies make to commemorate ANZAC Day.
“ANZAC” stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. And ANZAC Day – 25 April 1915 – is Australia’s most important national occasion each year, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War during which we suffered heavy casualties.
It is said that the wives of soldiers came up with the original Anzac Biscuits using ingredients such that the biscuits stayed fresh for the weeks it took to reach the soldiers overseas. I’m told that the original Anzac biscuits were as hard as a rock, so hard in fact that some soldiers would grind them up and use them as porridge.
I think Anzac biscuits as we know them today are much more to my liking! 😅
Here’s what you need (not much!)
Golden syrup
The only ingredient that might not be familiar to those outside of Australia and the UK is golden syrup. It’s an amber coloured syrup with the consistency of honey, and it has a toffee flavour. It has a bit of a harsh edge to the flavour so I only use it for baking, though some people use it in place of maple syrup for things like pancakes.
Best substitute for golden syrup is a combination of light molasses or treacle, plus honey. I use 1 part molasses or treacle, and 3 parts honey – the flavour is nearly identical, and the colour is very similar (a bit darker).
How to make Anzac biscuits
The making part is very straight forward – melt butter with golden syrup, add the baking soda then mix it into the dry ingredients. Roll into balls, flatten and bake!
Should Anzac biscuits chewy or crisp??
Apparently, the question of whether Anzac biscuits should be crisp or chewy is a topic of huge debate. 🤷🏻♀️
In my world, there’s no question. Anzac biscuits should be crispy, crispy, crispy!!! Just like the original created by the soldiers’ wives over a century ago! 🙂
But actually, if you want chewy it’s very simple – just reduce the bake time by a few minutes.
See? Anzac biscuits for all! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Anzac Biscuits (Golden Oatmeal Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup desiccated coconut , unsweetened
- 3/4 cup white sugar , preferably caster / superfine
- 150g / 5oz unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp golden syrup (Note 1)
- 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan forced)
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Mix dry: Mix flour, oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
- Melt butter and golden syrup: Place butter and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium high heat and stir until butter has melted.
- Baking soda: Add baking soda and stir to combine – it will fizz up, this is normal. Immediately remove from heat.
- Biscuit dough – Pour butter mixture into flour and mix until just combined. The mixture will be crumbly but should stick when you press together.
- Form patties – Scrunch / press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into balls, then flatten into patties. (Thinner = crisper, thicker = chewier centre, crispy edges) Place balls, 2.5 cm/1" apart, on prepared trays.
- Bake for 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway during cooking, or until deep golden. (Bake 12 min for chewy biscuits!)
- Cool to crisp – Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool – they harden as they cool!
Recipe Notes:
- 1 tbsp light molasses + 3 tbsp honey or light corn syrup
- 1 tbsp treacle + 3 tbsp honey or light corn syrup
Nutrition Information:
Anzac biscuits originally published July 2014, refreshed in 2019 and 2020. Updated with new photos, new video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added! No change to recipe.
More must-try biscuit and cookie recipes!
Life of Dozer
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Easy recipe, delicious outcome
If you can have peanuts a tablespoon or so of crushed peanuts like you put on Mr Whippy Sundaes are the bomb in Anzac’s
No peanuts in Anzacs! 😂
Love every recipe except this one. Overwhelmingly sweet. All I can taste is sugar. I threw out the mixture left over from the 1st batch. Sorry!!
These were hit last weekend for ANZAC Day – everyone loved that they weren’t sickly sweet, had a bit of crunch on the edges but perfectly chewy in the centre! But for the sweet tooths I did a second batch and did choccie bottoms – was a great touch!
Love this recipe.. make it a lot and they always go down well at work. My mum used to make them so I grew up with Anzac biscuits, even as a Brit, but this recipe is excellent.
The absolute best recipe for ANZAC biscuits. Quick and crisp.
Easy to follow, turn out perfect. I make small biscuits for my kids lunch box. Thank yku
Hands down the best Anzac biscuits we’ve ever had. The whole extended family loved them. Thank you!
So delicious. I need to make Anzac bikkies more often instead of just once a year 😂
When using Nagis recipes it’s all ways so delicious and has the perfect amount of flavouring and all of that sorta stuff. Highly recommend using this recipe
5 stars from the family and I
☺️😌
Who else adds raisins to the Anzac recipe? Yum!!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful Dozer with all of us 🩷 And yes I did make Anzac biscuits this weekend … Lest we forget 🌺
The biscuits also spread out a lot for me. However, I used shredded coconut instead of desiccated coconut (all I had on hand). I’m not sure if the extra moisture is the cause. Any suggestions to prevent spreading – add flour or oats??
These were amazing! I make them every year with my daughter to celebrate ANZAC day. They’re always so good.
These were amazing! I make them every year with my daughter to celebrate ANZAC day. They’re always so good and we have lots of fun
Epic fail! Spread like crazy.
Interesting as this is a pretty bog standard recipe don’t know why you had issues
My first batch was a fail in appearance but not in taste. They spread all over the tray BUT I hadn’t read the comment on having a firm dough. I also read a comment in the ratings discussing the absorption rates of oats. My oats were definitely not absorbent. The second batch I added more flour and they were awesome.
So you messed up and are blaming the recipe? Amazing.
They’re meant to spread and be thin and crispy. You could reduce the sugar and golden syrup a little.
Mine spread too but I loved them like that as I ended up cutting them into pieces which made portioning them so much easier! The kids (and adults) loved them like that
Should’ve read the tips section. So helpful! If too wet she said to add flour. That would’ve fixed the spreading.
Yes! I’ve used this recipe heaps and I think there’s too much butter in it. On Anzac Day they spread like crazy and I thought I did something wrong. Now I redid them today and same thing happened.
I think it is a maker error not a recipe error.
I personally found these too sweet. I followed the recipe exactly and baked for 12 minutes. They were soft and chewy which is my preference but the sugar is too much; both gritty and overall so sweet my tongue feels like it’s burning. If I were to do this recipe again I’d play around with reducing the sugar by half and keeping the golden syrup the same, i suspect there would be a requirement to give more flour/oat/coconut. Happy to report back once I have a play. All ingredients purchased from Aldi Australia. Didn’t find the mixture too wet either which was good.
Best ANZAC biscuits ever.
I was disappointed with this recipe – and i’m a big Recipe Tin eats fan. They are way to sweet – cloyingly sweet. And they spread out a lot when i was baking them so they ended up thin & brittle. Disappointing.
I was disappointed with this recipe – and i’m a big Recipe Tin eats fan. They are way to sweet – cloyingly sweet. And they spread out a lot when i was baking them so they ended up thin & brittle. Disappointing.