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.
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Great recipe!
My husband loved them and said ‘this is how all ANZAC biscuits should be!’. I did reduce the cooking time to about 10 minutes and that seemed to make the perfect chewie cookie
Delicious recipe!
I used nuttelex (vegan butter) in place of the butter and they came out great!
This website just changed my life. Whoever made this should be the new Jamie Oliver
I have never made biscuits or cookies before, so this was a nice, easy and very tasty intro. I did freak out that they were soft when I got them out of the oven, but true to recipe, they hardened.
I lessened the sugar back to 100g and honestly, next time I make these, I may dial it back further to 75g.
Great recipe but I think the nutrition information is out. Calories should come to 176cal, with the sugar reduced to 100g. This is per biscuits and I made 18 out of this batch.
Lovely recipe 😁 yummy
Unfortunately I trusted a handful of comments here that mentioned these being a little sugary, so I added less sugar than instructed… big mistake 😭
To me, this recipe is perfect as is! Don’t change any of the measurements! I made another batch after being disappointed with the first and YES! 10/10 in flavour!
Unfortunately I found these Anzacs far too sweet.
I have made the same recipe for years and it only has 2 tabs of golden syrup .
And just 125 gram butter which I prefer.
I love and like your anzac biscuits
Fabulous recipe. The biscuits are crunchy and tast devine. Another winner from Nagi and RecipeTin Eats!
Just had to clarify for those that know! The biscuit that most of us know as the Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit made from rolled oats and golden syrup. These must not be confused with that staple of soldiers’ and sailors’ rations for centuries, the hardtack biscuit.
To deal with these rather unpalatable objects first, hardtack biscuits are a nutritional substitute for bread, but unlike bread they do not go mouldy. And also unlike bread, they are very, very hard. On Gallipoli, where the supply of fresh food and water was often difficult to maintain, hardtack biscuits became notorious. So closely have they been identified with the whole Gallipoli experience that they are sometimes known Anzac tiles or Anzac wafer biscuits. Hence the confusion with the sweet biscuit.
It’s been so long since I’ve had these biscuits! They were tasty, but a little sweet for my preferences. I reduced the sugar to 150g (mix of brown and caster) but would probably reduce down to 120g and reduce the butter as mentioned by another person. I also didn’t have golden syrup so substituted (black) molasses and honey – could be why it’s sweeter!
Mine did spread a bit despite baking for 8mins as recommended, but it may be that I didn’t leave a big enough space in between. Will try again! Thanks for making tasty recipes 🙂
I am super excited to bake my first ANZAC bikkies! Has anyone tried to freeze the dough?
Made these cookies. They are so delicious. I needed to add extra melted butter (as the recipe said I may need to) to make them hold but worked out well. Half dipped them in chocolate for a little extra! Don’t have Instagram to tag, sorry
How many biscuits does this recipe make? Cheers!
Dear Nagi
Although you do refer to ANZAC biscuits as biscuits, you have included Cookies in the add.
ANZAC biscuits should never have cookies in their name as it is a biscuit not an American Cookie.
Thank you
For chewy cookies 12mins on 160fan is way too long especially if you flatten….will try again for less than 12 and won’t flatten the balls, flavour is great but the oven timings is off….
The recipe says to use one tablespoon of mixture. But, I used two tablespoons (firmly packed) and baked them for 12 min at 160 in fan-forced oven. this made 16 biscuits and they were perfect.
I too found the times too long. 1 tablespoon balls flattened baked for 15 minutes at 350 F would have burnt them for me. I found 9 minutes to be my perfect time, which is similar to some other recipes found online.
Hi Nagi. I usually love your recipes. In this case I found that 150g was too.much butter which caused my cookies to spread too much and they were oily. 125 g of butter worked better for me. They were also too sweet, so I reduced the sugar to 1/2 a cup and used 2 tbs of golden syrup.
Lovely recipe but it hurts my Kiwi heart that these are referred to as Australian. They are a big tradition in New Zealand as well!!
I made these but had no golden syrup so I substituted honey. Amazing result as they were really chewy!
they are so golden and chewy
they have everthing i highly recommend trying this
they are so golden and chewy chrispy they have everthing i highly recommend trying its super fun to make with friends or family