I made my first ever attempt at Anzac biscuits on Anzac Day and unfortunately something went very wrong -- all of my cookies grew together into a single huge conjoined cookie glob during baking. I wanted to give Anzac biscuits another try but I decided to try David Lebovitz's variation. He calls them "Cranzac Cookies" because he adds cranberries.
Making the batter is super easy. You just mix together all of the dry ingredients (old-fashioned oats, brown sugar, flour, unsweetened shredded coconut, dried cranberries, baking soda and salt); and add the liquid ingredients (water, melted butter, and golden syrup). The recipe says that you can refrigerate the dough for up to five days before baking and so I chilled mine for a day before baking. I should have scooped the dough before putting it in the fridge, because the cold dough was so stiff that I actually broke my #30 scoop as I was portioning out the dough. I used my scale to ensure that all of my cookies were the same weight and I got 19 cookies -- which I flattened before baking -- from a batch of dough.
These cookies far exceeded my expectations; they were freakin' delicious. I don't know how a proper Anzac biscuit should taste, but these cookies had a marvelously super-chewy texture that I could not get enough of. I'm the kind of person who strongly prefers an oatmeal-chocolate chip cookie to an oatmeal-raisin one, and I was expecting that the cranberries could make these cookies seem more like an oatmeal-raisin cookie. But they were so much better. I used dried cranberries from nuts.com, which I love because they are so plump and ovoid that they are almost wrinkle-free. These seemed like coconut cookies as much as they were oatmeal cookies, which was a plus for me.
My tasters loved these cookies and several asked me for the recipe. Tom and I liked them so much that I baked a second batch about a week later; I gave most of them to a friend to share with her hospital co-workers, but I held back a few for ourselves. I would make these again any time. And the simplicity of the recipe and the cookies' long shelf life were both big bonuses.
Recipe: "Cranzac Cookies" from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz. [The only difference between the version of the recipe in the cookbook and the one on Lebovitz's website is that the latter calls for 200 grams of dark brown sugar while the former calls for 215 grams of light brown sugar. I used the online recipe.]
Making the batter is super easy. You just mix together all of the dry ingredients (old-fashioned oats, brown sugar, flour, unsweetened shredded coconut, dried cranberries, baking soda and salt); and add the liquid ingredients (water, melted butter, and golden syrup). The recipe says that you can refrigerate the dough for up to five days before baking and so I chilled mine for a day before baking. I should have scooped the dough before putting it in the fridge, because the cold dough was so stiff that I actually broke my #30 scoop as I was portioning out the dough. I used my scale to ensure that all of my cookies were the same weight and I got 19 cookies -- which I flattened before baking -- from a batch of dough.
My tasters loved these cookies and several asked me for the recipe. Tom and I liked them so much that I baked a second batch about a week later; I gave most of them to a friend to share with her hospital co-workers, but I held back a few for ourselves. I would make these again any time. And the simplicity of the recipe and the cookies' long shelf life were both big bonuses.
Recipe: "Cranzac Cookies" from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz. [The only difference between the version of the recipe in the cookbook and the one on Lebovitz's website is that the latter calls for 200 grams of dark brown sugar while the former calls for 215 grams of light brown sugar. I used the online recipe.]
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