Happy Australia Day to all my friends and family at home, and a really happy Australia Day to all those expat Aussies living and working away from home, us included!
Because I won't have a chance here in Shanghai to do the usual thing - that is, have a day off work, drive to the beach and have a barbecue - I've cooked up an Aussie treat to make me and the rest of the household feel less homesick. And lately, I've been feeling very homesick, what with the floods in Queensland and Victoria, and the long cold winter.
So this recipe is for a twist on the traditional Anzac biscuit - a golden-syrupy oaty crunchy treat, usually associated with Anzac Day (April 25 - commemorating the landing of Australia and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli). I've added macadamia nuts - Australia's own native nut - to make them even more delicious, but you could use peanuts or almonds too. Thanks to kind friends back home (D and A) I got two big bags of macadamias in the post before Christmas, so here's the result:
Macadamia Anzac Biscuits
Makes approx. 30 biscuits
Ingredients
- 200g soft brown sugar
- 200g butter
- 4 tablespoons of golden syrup
- 200g macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
- 200g self-raising flour
- 150g rolled oats
- 50g dessicated coconut
Method
- preheat oven to 170C
- melt butter, brown sugar and golden syrup together in a saucepan over low heat
- mix the flour, macadamia nuts, rolled oats and coconut together in a mixing bowl
- add the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well
- using baking paper-lined trays, form small balls of mixture and place on tray, flattening slightly
- bake for 15 minutes or until just golden brown
- take care to remove from the oven as soon as they start to brown, otherwise they will become overly crisp (read: hard!)
Labels: Australia Day, food, recipes, Shanghai
