flipTraveller’s Anzac Biscuits
Traveller’s Anzac Biscuits
Why this dish? Margaret Court traveled the world on the circuit — Melbourne, Wimbledon, Forest Hills — at a time when journeys were long. The Anzac biscuit, an Australian national biscuit designed to keep for weeks (it was sent to soldiers overseas), is exactly the kind of sturdy sweet an Australian would pack in her luggage, a taste of home on every court in the world.
Australia’s iconic biscuit: rolled oats, shredded coconut, and golden syrup, crunchy and golden. Eggless, it keeps for a long time — originally designed for travel. The perfect companion for morning tea and long tours.
These little biscuits, we all ate them growing up — it’s all of Australia in a mouthful of oats and coconut. The secret is the golden syrup and the baking soda you add at the end: it foams, it fizzes, and the dough puffs up all at once. The good thing is they keep for weeks in a tin — so I always slipped a few into my luggage when I went to play on the other side of the world. One bite, and you’re back home.
- •Rolled oats — a good measure (cereal base)
- •Flour — a measure (binder)
- •Shredded coconut — a measure (texture, flavor)
- •Sugar — a measure (sweetness)
- •Golden syrup — a few spoons (binder, characteristic flavor)
- •Butter — a piece (fat)
- •Baking soda — a pinch (leavening)
Traveller’s Anzac Biscuits
Australia’s iconic biscuit: rolled oats, shredded coconut, and golden syrup, crunchy and golden. Eggless, it keeps for a long time — originally designed for travel. The perfect companion for morning tea and long tours.
Why this dish? Margaret Court traveled the world on the circuit — Melbourne, Wimbledon, Forest Hills — at a time when journeys were long. The Anzac biscuit, an Australian national biscuit designed to keep for weeks (it was sent to soldiers overseas), is exactly the kind of sturdy sweet an Australian would pack in her luggage, a taste of home on every court in the world.
These little biscuits, we all ate them growing up — it’s all of Australia in a mouthful of oats and coconut. The secret is the golden syrup and the baking soda you add at the end: it foams, it fizzes, and the dough puffs up all at once. The good thing is they keep for weeks in a tin — so I always slipped a few into my luggage when I went to play on the other side of the world. One bite, and you’re back home.
Ingredients (period version)
- Rolled oats — a good measure (cereal base)
- Flour — a measure (binder)
- Shredded coconut — a measure (texture, flavor)
- Sugar — a measure (sweetness)
- Golden syrup — a few spoons (binder, characteristic flavor)
- Butter — a piece (fat)
- Baking soda — a pinch (leavening)
Ingredients
- Rolled oats — 100 g (cereal base)
- Flour — 100 g (binder)
- Shredded coconut — 85 g (texture, flavor)
- Sugar — 100 g (sweetness)
- Golden syrup — 2 tbsp (binder, flavor)
- Butter — 115 g (fat)
- Baking soda — 1 tsp (leavening)
- Boiling water — 2 tbsp (activates baking soda)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C and mix the oats, flour, coconut, and sugar in a bowl.
- Gently melt the butter with the golden syrup in a saucepan.
- Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water, then add to the melted butter: the mixture will foam.
- Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and mix until you get a homogeneous dough.
- Form small balls, place them spaced apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and flatten them slightly.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until a nice golden color. Let cool on the tray (they harden as they cool), then store in an airtight container.
How it was made : The Anzac biscuit takes its name from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) of World War I. Eggless — a fragile ingredient — it could withstand long sea voyages to the soldiers. Now a national emblem, it embodies the resourcefulness of Australian cooking, marrying Commonwealth oats and coconut with colonial golden syrup.
The contemporary twist : Sandwich two biscuits with a thin layer of vanilla ice cream for a summer ‘Anzac ice-cream sandwich’.
Margaret Court · Charactorium
