Special Guest Thursday: Macadamia Anzac Biscuits {threefootcooks}

As you can see, Special Guest Thursdays took a bit of a break. Well, it was really me who had a break from blogging as life with 3, plus ongoing vacation is what we’ve been busy around with here!

Today I am happy to introduce Maree from threefootcooks who shares a recipe of Anzac Biscuits  and also gives us a bit of sneak peaks into life over in Australia and the history of these cookies!

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Over here in Australia we are currently in the middle of the winter season. However, since my family and I live in the Northern part of Australia it doesn’t really get cold in winter.  We have had a couple of nights where the minimum temperatures were around 6 degrees Celsius, and most days the maximum temperature is in the low 20 degrees Celsius.  So we have the best of both worlds at the moment.  We can enjoy soups and stews for dinner at night but still play outside and enjoy the sunshine during the day.  Summer, however, is a different story.  Nights are hot and humid and you try and keep out of the sun during the day. Typical Australian weather – lots of extremes all over our country.

The biscuits that my daughters Bear and Bee have made for this guest post are typically Australian too.  Anzac Biscuits are associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War 1.  There is much debate over the true origins of the Anzac Biscuit recipe and what it was originally like.  However, if you were to ask someone from Australia or New Zealand what was in an Anzac Biscuit they would agree on rolled oats, sugar, golden syrup, flour, coconut, butter, bicarbonate of soda and boiling water.  The biscuits are crunchy and don’t contain eggs; so they stayed fresh longer while being sent to soldiers in care packages during World War 1.

This recipe for Anzac Biscuits has only 2 additions to the original list of ingredients.  We added a small amount of ground ginger and chopped macadamia nuts for extra flavour. Macadamia Nuts are a native Australian nut from the North East coast of Australia (the area I grew up in). Macadamia nuts were responsible for lots of sore fingers in my family (and others like ours) when I was growing up.  The macadamia nut has an extremely tough shell which needs to be cracked open with a large rock or hammer.  Thankfully, there are many versions of nut crackers readily available now that can be used to crack the macadamia nut open.

To make a more authentic version of Anzac Biscuits just leave out the ground ginger and macadamia nuts.

Macadamia Anzac Biscuits

Makes 50 approximately

Ingredients

2 cups (250g) plain flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 and ½ cups (135g) desiccated coconut

2 cups (180g) rolled oats

1 cup (200g) firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (125g) macadamia nuts, chopped

200g butter, chopped

½ cup (175g) golden syrup

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ cup (125ml) boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180^oC/160^oC fan forced.

2. Line 3 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, ginger, coconut, oats, sugar and nuts.

4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture.

5. Place the butter, golden syrup and water in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Don’t use a small saucepan even though it is only a small amount of ingredients.  Trust me; you will see why in step 7.

6. Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter has melted.

7. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in bicarbonate of soda.  The mixture will foam up as you stir it which is why it is important to use a slightly larger than needed saucepan.

8. Quickly pour the foamy butter mixture into the bowl containing the flour mixture and mix well until all ingredients are combined.

9. Roll 1 tablespoon of mixture into a ball and place on prepared tray.  Flatten slightly with your fingers.

10. Repeat with remaining biscuit mixture.

11. Bake biscuits for 10-12 minutes or until golden and just firm to touch.

12. Remove trays from oven and allow biscuits to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Please note.  I would recommend that only an adult completes steps 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the recipe.  The way the butter and syrup mixture foams up when the bi-carb soda is added is really cool to watch but it is also very hot. Once you have mixed all the ingredients together it should be cool enough for your child to help roll the mixture into balls.

I hope you enjoy making this little taste of Australia with your child.

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“My name is Maree Mortimer and I am a stay at home mum with twin 4 year old girls.  My blog threefootcooks is about the cooking adventures I have with my girls.  I hope to inspire more parents to cook with their children on a regular basis. “

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