Anzac Biscuits are quintessential of Anzac Day. Chewy, crispy, quick and easy. These sweet flavored biscuits stay fresh for days. Made using rolled oats and golden syrup they are sweet with a light brown color. These widely popular biscuits are also known as Rolled Oat Biscuits or Soldier's Biscuits.
Easy baking recipes with few ingredients are a fun way of getting into the kitchen. A few favourites are the Lemon Polenta Cake and the Chocolate Ripple Wreath. Our Dark Chocolate Bark and Dark Chocolate Rocky Road recipes are right up there too! For decadent delights, the Dulce de Leche Tartlets.
Anzac Biscuits taste delicious fresh from the oven but also keep well in a sealed container
Crunchy Anzac Biscuits or chewy ones that are a little hard on the outside and soft on the inside are the stuff of dreams come true.
What do Anzac Biscuits represent?
There is much contention about the origins of Anzac Biscuits. A summary of these is that Australian and New Zealand deployed army staff were sent them during World War 1. Back then they had a nickname of Soldier's Biscuits.
As they are a hardy biscuit, they travel well and stay fresh!
As a kid growing up in Australian, Anzac Biscuits were one of the 1st recipes we cooked in school and made at home to take to bake sales.
They are easy to make, taste fab and have an authentic aroma that every Aussie and Kiwi know too well!
Are Anzac Biscuits Australian or New Zealand?
As for their country of origin, that too is debatable. Much like Pavlova, Aussies will say these are their biscuit and Kiwi's will claim it as their own. We may never know but one thing we do know is that the Haka is the best thing about any rugby match between the 2 countries!
What can I use instead of golden syrup in Anzac Biscuits?
Golden syrup is a key ingredient in these biscuits. Both for its rich, thick and sweet texture as its unique flavour.
As a substitute you can use honey instead of golden syrup. This will change the flavour of the biscuits but has a similar texture and sweetness.
Maple syrup is another option, but it doesn't have the same thick texture, so it is best to use ⅓ instead of ½ cup if choosing this method.
How long can you keep rolled oat Anzac Biscuits?
Once you have baked your biscuits and let them cool, you can store them in a sealed, air tight container in a cupboard for at least a week.
The biscuits don't need to be refrigerated and are fine to eat without further ado when you have an urge for a cup of tea and a biscuit!
Substitute the golden syrup and have crunchy honey oat biscuits and you will be delighted!
Traditional Anzac Biscuits recipe
As with all good things in life, there can be many, many versions.
For the real deal, history of these biscuits and the recipes used back in the olden days, you can have a read on google, there is a context there that many people will appreciate.
This is my step by step recipe with instructions and photos that make either crunchy biscuits or biscuits that are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside (all with a slight change of technique).
Ingredients
The photo below shows you the ingredients you will need for a batch of these biscuits. For exact quantities and detailed instructions, scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
As you can see we need:
- Oats (rolled oats)
- Plain flour
- Unsalted butter
- Golden syrup
- White sugar
- baking soda (bi carb soda)
- Desiccated coconut
- Water
🍳 How to Make Anzac Biscuits
This recipe is all about wet ingredients, dry ingredients and combining both of them.
We can break our recipes into 15 easy steps. The photos below show you each step and all we need to do is take one step after the other.
- add oats, sugar, coconut to a bowl (shown in photos 1-3)
- sift and add in flour (shown in photo 4)
- use a spoon to mix the dry ingredients together (shown in photo 5)
- add butter and golden syrup to a heat proof jug and microwave (shown in photos 6-8)
- remove melted butter mix from microwave and stir to combine (shown in photo 9)
Anzac Biscuits recipe step by step instructions
The next 9 steps are shown in the photos below:
- add baking soda to the melted butter mix (shown in photo 10)
- pour in hot water and stir to combine (shown in photos 11-12)
- make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients (shown in photo 13)
- pour wet mix into well in centre of bowl, stir to combine (shown in photos 14-15)
- scoop mix into biscuit sized portions, place on baking tray (shown in photos 16 -17)
- squish the biscuit mix together by pressing with finger tips (shown in photo 18)
Of the 18 steps steps above, there are 4 to focus on which are shown below:
- the dry ingredients will mix together easily, stir till mix is consistently integrated (photo 1)
- use a spoon to make a well in the centre of the bowl to pour the wet ingredients (photo 2)
- pouring the wet ingredients into the well allows for well combined dry ingredients (photo 3)
- for chewy anzac biscuits simply place on tray
- for crunchy anzac biscuits, use your finger tips to squish mix together (photo 4)
Crunchy Anzac Biscuits technique
The technique of rolling/scooping or squishing the biscuit mix will allow you to change the texture of the finished biscuit.
If you want an Anzac biscuit that is chewy on the outside and soft in the centre, then I recommend using a cookie scoop to transfer the batter from bowl to pan. If however, you want a crunchy Anzac biscuit that crumbs fly off when you bite into it then change your technique.
For the crunchiest of biscuits, use both hands, scoop out a biscuit sized portion. Then roll with your palms into a ball, place this onto the baking tray and press down with your finger tips to flatten. Crunchy biscuits should be smaller and higher than chewy biscuits which will be flatter and wider.
Whether you want to make healthy, crunchy, chewy or traditional Anzac biscuits, one thing is for sure, they are delicious. An Anzac biscuit without golden syrup might be more your style, in which case, use honey, maple syrup or molasses to your preferred taste.
An Anzac biscuit without golden syrup might be more your style, in which case, use honey, maple syrup or molasses to your preferred taste.
Grab a couple of friends, a few pots of tea and the ingredients for these biscuits. Whip up a batch and enjoy them fresh from the oven!
If you love cooking and baking, then you might like to play around with chocolate and I have some recipes below to delight you.
😍 More Biscuit Recipes
If you love to get your bake on by whisking up a cookie or 2 then I have some more recipes for you to try. These offer a combination of sweet and chocolate treats that work well for any occasion:
- Chocolate Chip Cookies With Cornflakes
- Smarties Cookies
- Mars Bar Cookies
- Milky Way Biscuits
- Dark Chocolate Rocky Road
- Dark Chocolate Bark
- Chocolate Ripple Wreath Cake (the perfect festive chocolate cake!)
Your Anzac Biscuits will be a beautiful golden colour with visible flecks of the oats and coconut! YUM!!
🥸 Frequently Asked Questions
Anzac Biscuits are essential to Australian and New Zealand history as they originated and were made many times during World War 1.
Americans call Anzac biscuits cookies.
White sugar is recommended over brown sugar to make Anzac biscuits.
💡 Top Tips and Tricks
There are a few things that I have learnt that you will benefit from being aware of:
- Technique: for consistently shaped biscuits, use a cookie scoop
- Texture: for crunchy outside with a soft centre, place your biscuit mix and slightly flatten the top.
If you like these biscuits, you might also like to try the Cornflake Biscuits, Smarties Cookies, Malteser Biscuits or Air Fryer Biscuits recipes.
Baking recipes
If you are an Aussie, I am pretty sure you will have tried making Anzac Biscuits in your life already. If you haven't or you are from another country and you have never heard of these biscuits, I encourage you to give them a go.
The ingredients are super easy to find and purchase which is one of their reasons that they were so popular in the past
For some reason, these always taste better with a cup of tea or coffee and dunking of your biscuit is totally the done thing!
Oat biscuits, Anzac Biscuits, chewy, crunchy, easy or traditional, you will have a delicious aroma wafting from your home to the envy of passers by.
As always give me a shout if you have any questions and I would love to know what you think in the comments below.
This recipe gives you the tips and tricks you need to know and you are going to be all over these biscuits!
Adrianne xx
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📖 Recipe
Anzac Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats Note 1
- 1 cup sugar Note 2
- ½ cup desiccated coconut
- 1 cup plain flour
- ¼ cup golden syrup
- 150 grams butter
- ½ teaspoon baking soda Note 3
- 1 tbs boiling water
Instructions
- Oven: Preheat oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
- Baking trays: Line 2 large baking trays with silicon baking mats.
- Dry ingredients: add rolled oats, coconut, sugar and sifted flour to a large mixing bowl and use a wooden spoon to stir and combine.
- Wet ingredients: add butter and golden syrup to a heatproof jug. Microwave for 1-2 minutes to melt then remove from the microwave and stir to combine. Add baking soda and boiling water to wet ingredients and stir to consistently mix in.
- Portion: Use a cookie scoop to spoon into portions. Spread these across the silicon mat and then use 2 fingers to push down flattening the biscuit mix.
- Oven bake: place the 2 baking trays into the oven and bake the Anzac biscuits for 10 -12 mins until golden brown. Note 5. Once cooked transfer the biscuits to a wire rack for a couple of minutes to cool. Note 6
Video
Notes
- Note 1 - Oats: rolled oats are the best choice. The brand of oats doesn't matter too much.
- Note 2 - Sugar: use plain white sugar, not caster sugar. That is a bit too fancy for a good old fashion biscuit recipe.
- Note 3 - Baking soda: Also known as bi-carb soda. This is one most essential ingredients to make the biscuits. It was a very commonly used ingredient back in history when the biscuits originated.
- Note 4 - Technique: If you want really hard crunchy biscuits, don't use a cookie scoop. Use your two hands, grab a portion of the batter out, roll into a ball, place on the baking tray, then press down with your finger tips. If you want chewy biscuits with a soft center, use a cookie scoop, spoon the batter onto the baking tray and gently press to flatten slightly.
- Note 5 - Chewy texture: If you are doing the chewy biscuit technique, the biscuits will still be soft in the middle when lightly touched with the tip of a finger
- Note 6 - Storage: to store, place in an air tight sealed container. The biscuits will stay fresh for 5-7 days.
Nutrition
Recipe published January 2020, updated in April 2025 to include video. Music credit: AudioCoffee https://www.audiocoffee.net/.
Monique says
These tasted delicious, but I did find they didn't spread very well.
Adrianne says
Hey Monqiue! Its great to hear you enjoyed the taste. Sorry what do you mean they didn't spread very well, like spread out as you put them on the baking tray or you wanted a larger biscuit? Thanks