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
When you watch my recipe videos, just know that Dozer is always just out of the frame!
Would’ve been cool to see a New Zealand flag there with the Australia one to put the NZ in ANZAC!
Agreed!
They did! Just don’t look at the big star!!
Hi Michelle
Totally agree with you. The absence of the NZ flag in Anzac communications is increasing and it’s not cool. My first thoughts are, time and place 🙂. Secondly, if they removed NZ from Anzac – it would be ridiculous 🤣. Love my NZ mates. Love you.
Exactly!! Anzac without the ‘NZ’ is, well just aac…
And golden syrup is a staple in New Zealand too.
Amazing recipe though, my hubby said the best he’s ever had
Much as we love NZ, they’re Aussie biscuits.
You can’t steal these and our pavlova too.
These are great. I appreciate that they have a higher proportion of golden syrup than other popular recipes; the flavour really comes through. If anyone finds these too sweet, it could be down to a mismatch between the volume and metric amount of white sugar in the ingredients list. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup or 165g of sugar, but I always bake with a scale and typically find that 3/4 cup is around 150g, which is what I used. I thought the sweetness level was balanced – authenticity aside, who wants hardtack? 90g for 1/4 cup golden syrup seems like a lot, but without testing I think it’s actually correct.
Perfection!
Anzac biscuits are super yummy.
This is my favourite Anzac recipe . Fan forced oven at 150 degrees celsius for 18 mins for me is perfect. After patting balls down really flat I wait till they are room temp before baking. Have tried a variety of recipes, these are perfect (even though i added 3/4 tsp of salt, cos I love salty sweet). Thanks Nagi for all your wonderful recipes!!!!
I have made these biscuits today with my 4yo daughter who saw oats and said “ew I don’t want this in my cookies”. Well she loves them! We swapped the sugar out for coconut sugar and they’re beautiful. Will make this recipe again!
Followed recipe exactly and flattened it but kept it a bit thicker for a chewy biscuit. Came out perfectly golden in 14 mins and has a subtle toffee taste with buttery oaty coconuty goodness.
Perfect anzac cookies each and every time. Easy recipe to follow. Thank you Nagi. 🥰
Absoloute yum🌸
I usually love all of Nagi’s recipes but this one was a bit of a flop for me. The mixture was way too wet and all the biscuits spread into one giant biscuit and I took them out when they were brown and they were still undercooked, even after cooling down.
That’s so interesting because you aren’t the only person to to say the recipe was too wet yet I found that the mixture was extremely dry. I know ANZAC bikkies are meant to be crumbly but I could barely get them into the ball shapes. I wonder what we each did differently considering we all followed the same recipe.
Made these to the recipe except melted butter and syrup in microwave (in pyrex measuring jug, made less washing as could pour 1/4 cup golden syrup then zero scales and add 150g butter), and also made mine larger using an ice cream scoop (basically American cookie size). 15 mins and they were golden and slightly dark on edges, I probably had temp too high 180C fan forced. Still delicious and crispy on edge and chewy centre.
I lost my Anzac day biscuit recipe and thought I’d try yours as nothing ever fails and they certainly didn’t, totally spot on and just to be naughty I drizzled a bit of melted chocolate on some!!
Thanks Nagi for giving us the best recipes.
Worst Anzac biscuit recipe I’ve used
Love this recipe! We visited AUS/NZ last year and fell in love with these cookies. The second time I made this, the dough was too soft and the cookies spread too much. Tasted great! Will have to adjust with flour next time.
Turn out amazing! Have made it twice this week (yes, the first batch went that quickly). Second time I microwaved instead of stovetop heated and it turned out just as good.
The best recipe! I will be making them again. Beautiful golden colour and they didn’t spread too much like other recipes. Love the photo of Dozer 🥹
The best ANZAC biscuit recipe I have made! I did cut back the butter to 125g and golden syrup to 3.5 Tablespoons, they did not spread out too much, and retained its shape beautifully. Thank you so much Nagi.
Way too sloppy a mixture!
Spread all over the tray,joining together.Wasted 🙁
Returning to my original recipe.
First ever fail with Nagi.Sad.
Pam – I also have just had the same issue 😔
They were oily and just spread out and didn’t rise. First time fail also. I wonder if using Nz ingredients changes anything? Usually I stick with Nz recipes for anzacs
Taste great but note to self next time roll smaller balls. They spread so much they connected. 😂. But still awesome and will be making them again next week.
I love Anzac biscuits and make them every year with my little one. I add a little fresh rosemary to mine as an additional nod to the ANZACs and it adds a lovely savoury note through the biscuit.