Anzac Biscuits

Brown Butter Anzac Biscuits. These traditional Anzac biscuits are chewy and oaty, and are made with brown butter and honey for a perfect depth of flavour. This is a quick Anzac biscuit recipe, and is perfectly soft and chewy.

Brown Butter Anzac Biscuits

Happy Saturday! I have another New Zealand (and Australian this time) classic to share with you today - Anzac biscuits! If you haven’t heard of or tried Anzac biscuits before, you are in for a treat. Anzac Biscuits are an Oat based biscuit (what we call cookies). They are a stir together situation so are quick to make, and are chewy and delicious. The recipe came about during the first World War, when people still at home would make biscuits from their ration packs to sell to raise money for the war effort, and the ingredient list originated from what was available - flour, rolled oats, sugar, butter, golden syrup, coconut, and baking soda. They are generally made around Anzac day, which is the 25th of April. This marks the day that the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (hence the name Anzac) landed at Gallipoli in 1914 and is a day of remembrance.

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The Search for the "Perfect" Anzac Biscuit

I have shared a recipe for Anzac biscuits here before but it was 1) a long time ago and 2) not my ‘ideal’ version of an Anzac biscuit. While all versions are basically a riff on the same base, using the same ingredients but different quantities to give different textures, I found during my testing that these are particularly sensitive to changes in ratios of ingredients - as little as 15g flour difference within the recipe made a huge change to the texture. I think that it is something to do with the lack of eggs in the recipe, but regardless, I tweaked and tweaked the recipe, playing around with different ratios and baking temperatures to come up with what is, to me, the perfect recipe for Anzac biscuits. My version are a tiny bit crunchy around the edges, and perfectly chewy in the middle.

Testing Variables for the perfect Anzac Biscuit

I did switch a couple of things up during my testing which I think made a difference to the final outcome. The variables I was playing around with were ratios of brown and white sugar, the amount of flour used in the recipe, and the temperature that the biscuits baked at. For the most part, as is with most cookie recipes, brown sugar gives you a thicker biscuit. White sugar promotes spreading. So, coming up with a balance of the two lead to a cookie that has a nice spread and bakes up flat but still has enough thickness to give some chew in the middle. I definitely went both ways with this, making some that were totally flat and crunchy and a couple that were like rocks. It was really interesting to see how the final outcome was affected by that ratio.

Aside from the flour content the other variable I played around with was the oven temperature. This is a super easy one to test - I usually just divide up my batch and bake half at each temperature when I am testing. Temperature really makes a difference in the final shape of the cookie - those baked at a higher temperature tend to spread a little more quickly than those baked a little lower, and for these a lower temperature was perfect, as it allowed them to spread a little slower, giving a chewier middle. This highlights how important it is to make sure your oven is running to temperature - an oven thermometer is a great investment if you don’t have one already.

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Anzac Biscuits with Honey!?

I kept the ingredient list the same for my Anzacs as the traditional Anzac biscuit. I added a wee step - browning the butter. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. However, it is a super easy step to add a little more flavour to your Anzac biscuits without having to add any extra ingredients. Anzac biscuits also traditionally use golden syrup, but it seems as if it is a little harder to find here than it is in Australia and New Zealand. So, I switched it out and used Honey instead, going with this super flavourful Raw Native Bush Honey from Steens Honey, which is perfect for baking!

Steens Honey is a small New Zealand family owned business. They produce a wide range of honeys - they have some amazing manuka varieties but also make this incredible Raw Native Bush Honey which is super dark in colour and is incredibly flavourful. New Zealand honey just hits different. It’s hard to explain but you will need to get some for yourself and give it a try. It is nothing like I have ever tasted in the States, and as soon as you try it you will know exactly what I mean.

Steen’s Raw Native Bush Honey is amazing quality and because of the strong flavour, it was perfect for these Anzac biscuits. It rounded out the flavour and paired so, so well with the brown butter. The resulting honey flavour is delicate, but so, so good. I will happily eat a spoon of this straight from the jar, so knew it would be so good in the biscuits!

Why are there two quantities of butter in your recipe?

The 175g butter quantity comes from adding a little extra to the initial quantity to account for the loss in volume when browning the butter. You are cooking off the moisture, so you need to start with more regular butter than the quantity of brown butter called for in the recipe (I usually multiply the quantity of brown butter I need by 1.3 to work out how much I need to start with). It's not a typo in the recipe. You need to start with more butter to get the right quantity of brown butter for the recipe.

Brown Butter Anzac Biscuits FAQ

A few more tips and tricks for making Anzac Biscuits (important, please read)

• If possible, bake these two trays at the same time. I found that the dough doesn’t rest super well, so you are best to bake them off just after mixing if you can. It isn’t the end of the world if you can’t but the texture of the second batch may be different to that of the first.
• Watch these carefully as they can get a little toasty on the bottoms! Mine needed 15 minutes. If you want them a little less golden and a bit softer drop the baking time by a minute or so. Check on them at 12 minutes and go from there.
• This recipe would halve very well as there are no eggs. However, the biscuits last a long time in an airtight container if you only have a few people in the house. (These will disappear quick though, promise!)
• I get you to roll the mixture into balls. You don’t need to flatten them down - they will flatten off themselves in the oven.
• If you would like to get your cookies super round you can do a #cookiescoot. Take a cutter slightly bigger than the cookie and place it over the top and use it to scoot it into a round shape when it is hot out of the oven.

For more New Zealand Recipes, Check out:

• Peanut Brownie Cookies
• Baked Cream Buns with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream and Jam 
• The Perfect Pavlova
• Custard Square
• Tan Square

Made this recipe and love it?

If you made this recipe then I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it!

A note on salt and oven temperature

It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.

All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.

Using the double / triple function in the recipe card

You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!

Tools and equipment

For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.

Why is this recipe in grams?

I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!

Thank you so much to Taste of New Zealand of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for Sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own.  

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