ANZAC Biscuits

recipe one on the left - recipe two on the right

I am going to do two recipes for this post.
Both are from advertising material that comes through our letterbox.

Recipe one

Ingredients 
125 g butter 
¼ cup golden syrup 
½ tsp baking soda 
1 tbsp hot water 
½ cup plain flour 
½ cup sugar 
1 cup desiccated coconut 
1 cup rolled oat 

Preparation 
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. 
Melt butter and golden syrup in a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients. Remove from the heat. 
Dissolve baking soda in hot water and mix into the melted ingredients. 
Mix flour, sugar, coconut and oats together until combined. Mix into the butter mixture until well combined. 
Using a measuring tablespoon, take spoonfuls of the mixture and place on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Press with a fork to flatten – allow room for spreading. 
Bake for 10–12 minutes or until golden. 
Leave on the oven tray to cool and firm up before moving to a cooling rack. 

This recipe was contributed by Robyn Martin in the “New World” catalog. You can actually find the recipe here.  She makes an interesting comment on how she changed recipes for her to cook/mix it all in one pot instead of creaming the butter and sugar etc. I have made different versions of ANZAC biscuits and they have all been melt in the pot ones.

Recipe two

Ingredients 
115g butter 
1 Tbsp golden syrup 
1 tsp baking soda mixed with 2 Tbsp boiling water 
1 cup sugar 
1 cup desiccated coconut 
1 cup rolled oats 
¾ cup plain flour 
1 cup chopped walnuts 

Method 
1. Preheat oven to 140°C, not fan bake. 
2. In a medium sized pot, melt butter and golden syrup. Add baking soda and stir well. Remove from heat. 
3. Add sugar, coconut, oats, flour and walnuts stirring the mixture until well combined. 
4. Line 2 baking trays with paper. Roll the mixture into dessert spoon size balls leaving a space in between each. Gently flatten with a fork. 
5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then swap the trays around for even cooking for a further 10 minutes. Remove and let the biscuits sit for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. 

Makes approximately 25 biscuits.

This recipe was from the Countdown flyer. It can be found here.  There is no reference as to where they got it from.

Both recipes were good but I must admit I liked the second one with the added walnuts although this is a twist on the original recipe. The instructions for both are easy to follow and I would recommend either to anyone looking for a recipe.

Chocolate, Honey & Nut Slice

Base

170g Butter, softened 
2/3 cup Sugar 
½ tsp Vanilla Essence 
1¾ cups Flour 
¼ cup Cocoa 
1 tsp Baking Powder 1

Topping
100g Butter 
½ cup each: Sugar, Honey 
2 cups Mixed Nuts 
150g dark or milk Chocolate, chopped

Method 
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line an 18cm x 28cm baking pan with baking paper. 
To make the base: cream butter and sugar with an electric beater until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and beat again. Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix until evenly combined. Press into the base of the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. 

To make the topping: melt the butter, sugar and honey together in a saucepan over a low heat. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. 

Sprinkle the nuts and chocolate over the hot base. Pour over the honey mixture. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 150ºC and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan. Cut into small pieces to serve. 

For a chocolate pecan version, replace the mixed nuts with pecans. 

 Courtesy of Food Magazine. Recipe by Sandra Kinniburgh.

This recipe came recently in a Countdown catalog at Easter.
As I was having family come to visit I wanted to make some goodies for nibbles and afternoon tea.
I thought I would try this before filing it away in the large plastic bag!.

It was a recipe that required a few different steps and to be honest was not really yummy although Carl seemed to munch on a few slices. The honey taste was strong so it may have been the honey I used. It was from some friends who have their own bees so no particular brand of flavour. I think I would use the darkest type of chocolate too to give it a darker colour and flavour so to speak if I was to make it again.