Wednesday is Anzac Day. For many people it means remembering friends, family and loved ones who gave their lives during two world wars, while for others it just means a day off work, and they don't think about it a lot more deeply than that.
To really consider what the meaning of Anzac Day is, now, in 2012, regardless of whether or not you closely identify with the sacrifices made by those young men (and women!) all those years ago, I reckon you need to consider just how different the world would have been back then. No email. No Google or Wikipedia enabling you to know everything, and correct people's spelling and grammar. No blogs (some of you probably think that would be a good thing).
In a lot of ways, the food that was eaten then, out of necessity, would have been of superior quality to what many people choose to eat now - any sort of processed foods and takeaways were few and far between, and food would not have had a lot of the additives and preservatives that food now has. Seasonal eating wasn't a statement of your "rustic-ness", and commitment to ethical eating - people simply ate what was available and plentiful.
Wives and families back home would send baking to the frontline to supplement the soldiers' rations. Back then, food transportation was infinitely less sophisticated than what we totally take for granted now. So - one of the things that had to be taken into consideration when baking for the troops would have been making things that would survive that travel factor.
Which is perhaps where the Anzac biscuit comes in - these staples, with some variations, but always featuring rolled oats, coconut and golden syrup (but never eggs) - were hardy enough to survive the long journey, and were tasty and filling. They are still popular today.
The nice people who make Chelsea Golden Syrup recently sent me a special collectors' issue tin of golden syrup (see pic above), with a note suggesting I give their recipe for Anzac biccies a crack. HA! Clearly, they missed my posts in which I confessed my frustration with my resolute inability to follow a recipe, and on the disastrous consequences of what happens even if I do. Either that or they just want me to publicly humiliate myself. Again.
Well, I somehow doubt that. The tin is pretty, and will make an excellent receptacle for my collection of pieces of paper with phone numbers and ideas scribbled on them (or something) when the syrup has been used up - the design is based on what the tin looked like at the turn of the last century. And the attached note was friendly, and gave me lots of tips, encouragement and recipes (ha!) for making the biscuits. And I like Anzac biscuits. So - you know what? I gave it a crack.
Oh dear God, what have I done? What have they entrusted me with? Don't they understand that I am actually a total charlatan, that I can't really cook to save my life, and that I am actually only really good at eating? And, to top it all off P1 is away for the weekend (cue total excess of Super 15 watching. Even the crap games), so I can't even ask her to help. And yet, still, I feel an obligation, in the name of the memory of Anzac soldiers, to press onward. Spirit of the dambusters and all that.
And so, I made the biscuits, as per the recipe from the website. Remarkably, I actually managed to follow this recipe. It has sunflower and pumpkin seeds in it, which (probably) means it is healthy. It was actually pretty easy. You just, um, follow the recipe. Do what it tells you to do in the order that it suggests. And don't mess with it. And it does say "great for junior bakers", which, I reckon, probably means me.
And, d'you know what? I MADE DELICIOUS ANZAC BISCUITS! It wasn't even hard! Even stupid people can do it! Even I can do it! I am very impressed with myself. They are chewy, and not too sweet. Not too hard - I don't like really hard biscuits, and it is probably the Golden Syrup that prevents them from being too crispy, and, rather, makes them bendy, and delicious, and more-ish. The press release informs me that Chelsea are planning more "vintage" style collectable tins - if this baking business keeps up, I might start collecting them!
So anyway, it's nice to have something as simple, and yet also iconic, still around. The next thing I am going to try - just so's I can justify collecting more tins, not merely because I am greedy, mind - is a sticky golden syrup steamed pudding. It has infinite potential to turn the kitchen into a bomb site (again) - it's just as well we're renovating.
Anzac biscuits - do you make them? Do you eat them? Will you try this recipe? How do you make yours? And - hope you enjoy the historical golden syrup pics!
The Omnivore sends best wishes, thoughts and condolences to all those who have lost loved ones during wartime - Anzac Day is a chance to just take a step back from our day to day, and remember them and the sacrifice they made for many of the freedoms we take for granted today.
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My wife makes awesome ANZAC biscuits, has memorised the recipe, not to sweet and nice and chewy. She's a pretty darn good baker all round in fact, which means I get to enjoy the delicious end products.
I'm afraid to try any sort of baking though, I struggle to follow a recipe (surely it will be better with a bit more of this or that) and if I messed it up the p*ss taking would be merciless!
Can anyone tell me about flapjacks? The pommy ones? My husband went on and on about them (here was me thinking they were pancakes or something) and his mother made them... and as farm as I figure its basically Anzac biscuit made as a slice not a biscuit, and served warm, so chewy and nice.
Anzac biscuits are nice.. great for dunking.
I was wondering what to do with the kids on Anzac day... now I feel a spot of baking coming on.
I remember when golden syrup only came in tins (I'm not *that* old, mind you) and I warn you now that getting the last little bit out is really messy. Give me a bottle or squeezy tube any day.
I have a couple of cookie recipes (not Anzac) that use golden syrup, but my favourite G-S recipe is hokey poky. Especially to put in homemade (cream and sweetened condensed milk) ice cream which I could eat by the bucketful (which is why I don't make it all that often).
I need to do some more baking on Wednesday anyway. Two teenage boys make very efficient food vaccumn cleaners, now I know what I'm making. Love the tin too, roll on Anzac day.
My friend's mum always made much better ANZAC buscuits than my mum. A few years ago I asked her for her recipe, it turns out it is from a much older edition of the Edmonds than the one my mother has, it has about twice the sugar and twice the butter in. Fantastic. I think it would be from the 1940s.
I seldom bake but will do on Wednesday.
I like to add sultanas or chopped up dried apricots to mine, rather than seeds. Very yummy.
Mmm.. anzac biscuits are a staple in our house. I use the Edmunds recipe, and pop a shaving of Whittaker's milk chocolate on each biscuit to melt in the last minute of cooking. So good! Will try your recipe, as I like the idea of seeds in there...
making ANZAC biscuits this afternoon they really are easy to make my recipe comes from Bake. I alsways buy tins of golden syrup i use it alot in my house for baking.
Love ANZAC biscuits, and do make them sometimes, but definitely need to make some for this week. Actually might try that recipe, looks like an interesting addition to a classic biscuit.
@ Gee #3 - I've had flapjacks which sound like you described, basically an ANZAC slice, only I certainly didn't have them warm - they gave them to us (and they became a very popular food item!) on an Outward Bound course. Same idea, but less sweet than an ANZAC biscuit. Actually reminds me I need to make some more of them too...
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Great post. I knew there was a recipe out there for you :-)
Anzac biscuits were our obsession when we were teenagers. We would make them every chance we got, the best bit being the eating of the dough pre baking. Mum pretty annoyed when we started skipping the baking step altogether and just making dough to eat.
Totally with you on the soft biscuits thing. Darn, trying to eat healthy and now all I want to do is go home and make anzac biscuits. The recipe sounds excellent. The tin is pretty cool too.