"Perhaps the most impressive of all the cookbook blogs are the three devoted to the 2004 edition of Gourmet magazine's "The Gourmet Cookbook" -- all 5¼ pounds and 1,300-odd recipes of it. Befitting this culinary Everest, all three writers are overachievers in their professional lives."

--Lee Gomes, The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2008
"I should have told you before how much I've been enjoying reading your thoughts. You seem like such a great cook."

--Ruth Reichl, Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet Magazine, June 8 2008, comment on "Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream".

Monday, September 8, 2008

Anzac Biscuits

This is one of the remaining cookie recipes that uses coconut, but that's not the only reason why I dragged my feet about making these cookies.

The head notes state that these are cookies that Australian mothers and wives would bake up to send to their guys on the front during the war. (I'm thinking, sturdy = dry) Also, eggs were scarce, so Lyle's Golden Syrup was used as a binder instead. (I'm thinking, no eggs = even more dry)

So imagine my extreme surprise when Anzac Biscuits turned out to be nothing I was thinking.

Except for the no eggs, it's a pretty straightforward dough:



The recipe asks you to drop packed tablespoons about two inches apart on a tray. What I wasn't expecting was how much they would spread. Look how thin they are!



They remind me very much of another recipe in this chapter--Oat Thins. The major difference is that these babies are durable, thanks to the syrup (they're even kind of bendy when they're recently out of the oven) and the coconut.

Lucky, lucky ANZAC soldiers!

(by the way, if you're wondering...ANZAC = Australian and New Zealand Army Corp)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love ANZAC biscuits! Now I'm going to have to make them. Yum!