The weekend baking

For christmas I got this really beautiful journal (I think its a Martha Stewart one - who I actually cannot stand but she has a nice brand) from my brother in law and his girlfriend and I knew straight away I wanted to write all our family recipes in it. Up until that point I was kind of scribbling them down in a kids school exercise book, or on bits of scrap paper and shoving it inside said book* and it was starting to turn into a scruffy mess.
Last week I shared my favourite banana muffin cupcake (but really is a muffin) recipe and it was the first one to be entered into the new book. Being an anal retentive virgo I wrote it very carefully but there is no mistaking my crappy scrawl. And mistakes. But hopefully when they have been worn in from use in 40 years I will smile at them.

Anyway, yesterday I put my second one in, and probably my second favourite recipe - ANZAC biscuits.

A little history lesson: ANZAC stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps, which was established during WW1. Wikipedia says that there are claims that wives used to send these types of biscuits over to their men as they didn't spoil easily during transport, but I reckon because they are just motherfucking yum. You see alot of them being sold commercially during April, when we commemorate ANZAC Day.

These biscuits are super sweet and buttery but you can almost pretend they are healthy for you since they have rolled oats in (ok, I said almost). Some people put coconut in but I prefer them without. Ergh.
They don't go super hard which s a big plus for me, I HATE hard cookies and really they are best eaten straight away, while they are still kinda warm and gooey. So good. If you are good enough to wait until they are cooled completely then I love them as a dunker into tea or coffee too.

ANZAC biscuits

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons of boiling water
125 grams butter
1 tablespoon of golden syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
pinch of salt

Process:
Pre-heat the over to approx 160C (fan forced)
Sift flour and salt into a large bowl, measure in rolled oats and sugar and mix well.
In a small pot, gently melt the butter together with the vanilla and golden syrup.
Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.
Mix all wet ingredients into the bowl of dry and stir well to combine.
Use your hands to form small balls and set apart onto a baking paper lined tray.
Bake for about 8-15 minutes or until flattened and golden brown.

Tips:
Golden Syrup is like treacle in other countries but slightly different I think. I'm sure you could use it though.
I make the balls about ping pong sized which makes around 24ish and use two trays to give them some room to flatten.
The raw mixture is just as good, but dont give it to the kids to lick the bowl because dude, if you are anything like me you will regret that sugar crash.



*Which you know, is kinda beautiful in its own way, and I might end up gluing in some of those scrap bits of paper into the new book too.