ANZAC biscuits

These oaty biscuits are traditionally made on Anzac Day (April 25th), a New Zealand public holiday which honours and commemorates New Zealand and Australian soldiers who served in the First World War. The biscuits were created during the war, when families wanted to send nourishing treats to their sons and husbands on the front line; the biscuit had to have a long shelf-life so it would be fresh after the long boat trip, and had to be egg-free, as eggs were rationed.

The term ANZAC is protected under Australian law^[5] and therefore the word should not be used without permission from the Minister for Veterans' Affairs^[6]; misuse can be legally enforced particularly for commercial purposes. There is a general exemption granted for ANZAC Biscuits, as long as these biscuits remain basically true to the original recipe and are both referred to and sold as ANZAC Biscuits and never as cookies.

(picture sourced from here)

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 ½ tsp baking soda
100g butter
2 Tbsp golden syrup
2 Tbsp boiling water

Method;
Combine all dry ingredients except baking soda. Add melted butter. Mix baking soda with boiling water, then add to mixture. Place spoonfuls on a greased tray and cook at 180°C (356F) for 20 minutes. Cool then eat with a cuppa.

Lolly Cake

Lolly cake is a classic Kiwi treat, perfect with a cup of coffee or as an afternoon snack.
It is usually made with Fruit Puffs or Eskimo lollies, which are a sort of hard marshmallow type candy.

(picture sourced from here)

Recipe;
200g butter (about 1.5 sticks)
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tin condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 packets malt biscuits/cookies
1 packet fruit puffs/eskimos (180g)
dessicated coconut for sprinkling on top.

Method;
Crush up the malt biscuits until they are quite fine (a rolling pin works well for this) and chop up the eskimos/fruit puffs into roughly 1cm cubes.
Mix these together in a LARGE bowl or saucepan.

Melt the butter, brown sugar, condensed milk in the microwave for a minute or so and mix thoroughly before adding the vanilla essence and pouring this mixture over the biscuit crumbs and lollies.

This is the part I hate the most;
Get your hands in and mix everything together. The mixture needs to be quite sticky so it doesn't crumble when it sets. Mix it all together really well and then either roll it out into two log shapes, spread it out into a slice tray lined with baking paper, or roll into little balls.

Once you have chosen your preferred shape, cover the outside of it in dessicated coconut, wrap in baking paper (if you're making logs) and put in the fridge to set for a few hours. (actually, I lie, the waiting for it to set is just as bad as getting your hands sticky, if not worse!)

Voila!

Slice Blog!

Okay. So I've decided to create a blog dedicated to slice (and other delicious treats) with recipes and whatnot, for future reference if I want to bake something away from home.