Chewy Anzac Biscuits (Oatmeal Coconut Cookies) — The flavors of coconut, honey, and maple syrup, along with the butter and brown sugar that caramelize while baking, give the cookies layers of flavors and an abundance of textures that just won’t quit!
What Are Anzac Biscuits?
Last week I was at a potluck lunch at my daughter’s school and someone brought in Anzac biscuits. They were soft, chewy, full of oats and coconut, and I knew I had to recreate them.
I’d been wanting to make them for years, but tasting them gave me the nudge I needed. More like a huge push to research recipes and come up with something. That night. I wasn’t going to bed until I recreated them.
“An Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit popular in Australia and New Zealand made using rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water. Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I.”
It’s been suggested that the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily, and the biscuits kept well during slow, long naval transport.
There’s no egg in the cookies and while there is a stick of butter, I have a feeling you could successfully keep them vegan by using a vegan butter substitute.
While I love the lineup of ingredients — brown sugar, oats, and coconut — I had previously read that the cookies were crunchy and crispy, adjectives that don’t belong in my cookies. However, the cookies I tried were soft and chewy, sealing the deal to make them.
I ran into the man who brought the cookies to the potluck, and he told me he used Bill Granger’s recipe, a Sydney chef and cookbook author. I found the recipe online, but I had already made these cookies by the time I ran into him and googled the recipe.
This is a small batch recipe, making only about 15 cookies, and I needed enough to actually bake with.
The abundance of texture from the oats and coconut is so my thing. Along with the flavors from the honey, maple syrup, and the butter and brown sugar that caramelize while baking, these sweet cookies have layers of rich flavors that just won’t quit.
I’m so glad I went to that potluck because this is a bucket list cookie I’ve had on my mental to-make list for years, and now happily can check it off.
What’s in the Anzac Biscuits?
To make these chewy oatmeal coconut cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- All-purpose flour
- Old-fashioned oats
- Sweetened shredded coconut
- Salt
- Boiling water
- Baking soda
How to Make Anzac Biscuits
You don’t need a mixer for the recipe and instead just stir the dough together. Begin by melting 1 stick of butter in the microwave, stir in brown sugar, oats, coconut, honey and maple syrup.
Most online recipes call for golden syrup. It’s very rare to find it in U.S. grocery stores, and it’s an online order. I refuse to ask my readers to order an ingredient online that you need 2 tablespoons of, so I substituted with a blend of honey and maple syrup.
I used more liquid sweetener volume than most recipes which call, usually 1 to 2 tablespoons. I used 4 tablespoons because I didn’t want the batter to be dry.
After stirring in flour and baking soda, the batter will look something like a streusel topping. Fluffy and loose, but when squeezed together, compacts to form a dough.
To help squeeze and compact the dough into mounds, I used my cookie scoop. Then I chilled the dough mounds overnight before baking.
Traditional Anzac cookies are usually very flat and thin, but I don’t prefer overly flat cookies, so I chilled the dough because cold dough spreads less, plus it gives the flavors a chance to marry.
I baked my cookies for 9 minutes and the edges were just starting to brown, while the centers remain soft and tender. The cookies are exceedingly moist, very soft and very chewy.
Can I Use Unsweetened Coconut Flakes?
I used sweetened, shredded coconut. I know I’ll be asked about using unsweetened coconut, and while the recipe will work, I don’t know how the cookies will taste.
Can I Use Instant Oats?
I used old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not quick cook or instant. Don’t use quick cook because they function more like a coarse flour, and will absorb too much moisture from the dough, rendering it dry and crumbly. Plus, I love the texture of big oats, not pulverized pieces.
Tips for Making Anzac Cookies
These oatmeal coconut cookies are a touch greasy or oily, but I don’t view that as a bad thing. I view that as a buttery-goodness-with-no-where-to-go-but-to-the-surface thing.
If you prefer drier, firmer cookies, reduce the liquid sweeteners to 1 tablespoon each of honey and maple syrup, and bake for an additional minute or two.
Note that this recipe calls for pure maple syrup, NOT pancake syrup (which is basically just flavored corn syrup).
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Chewy Oatmeal Coconut Brown Sugar Cookies {Anzac Biscuits}
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons honey, golden syrup may be substituted
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup, golden syrup may be substituted
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not instant or quick cook
- heaping 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Add the brown sugar, honey, maple, and stir to combine. (If you prefer drier cookies, reduce honey and maple to 1 tablespoon each)
- Add the flour, oats, coconut, optional salt, and stir to combine; set aside.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, add the water and heat on high power to boil, about 1 minute.
- Slowly and very carefully add the baking soda to the water. Use caution because it will bubble up vigorously. Stir to dissolve the baking soda.
- Pour water-baking soda mixture over dough and stir to combine. Dough will look like streusel topping. Fluffy and loose, but when squeezed together, compacts to form a dough.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two tablespoon mounds (I made 15). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds about halfway with your palm, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter, and these cookies are already prone to spreading and baking flat.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and will be just beginning to brown (the coconut in the dough is prone to burning so watch them) and the tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 9 to 10 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool; bake for 10 to 12 minutes if you like firmer, crisper cookies (The cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temp for 10 minutes while oven preheated, and were baked for exactly 9 minutes).
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Oatmeal Cookie Recipes:
ALL OF MY OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPES!
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies — No butter and no mixer used in these easy cookies dripping with chocolate!
Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Scotchies Cookies — My favorite classic oatmeal cookie base loaded with sweet butterscotch chips! A classic cookie that you’ve just got to try!
The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — Soft, chewy, loaded with chocolate, and they turn out perfectly every time! Totally irresistible!!
Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal Cookies — These cookies are soft, moist, and oh-so chewy. They taste like banana bread and chocolate chip cookies rolled into one dessert!
These cookies look like perfection! I would be all over these!! ;)
It’s fascinating to hear the backstory of beloved foods – from now on I’ll think of a sweeping romance whenever I see Anzac biscuits. Love your chewy renditions!
If you’ve never tried these Val you would love them. They are SO you. If you ever need a very easy, smallbatch, no mixer, no fuss cookie – MAKE these!! :)
I’ve never heard of Anzac biscuits but anything that slightly resembles a chewy oatmeal cookie sounds good to me! Plus they have coconut!
They are SO good! I hope you try them if you like chewy oat cookies and coconut!
The cookies were amazing using coconut sugar! I refrigerated the cookies overnight, but they still spread a lot! No worries though, my research group loved them :)
That’s great that they worked with coconut sugar. I have a feeling that’s why they spread more…certain sugars make things spread more, and that could be it. Also I always bake on a Silpat so the cookies have traction and can ‘grip’ the mat so they spread less. But sounds like they were a hit with your group – wonderful! :)
They look fabulous! I want to grab one right out of the screen!
I have not heard of Anzac biscuits, but I had to give these a whirl today and if this is what Anzac biscuits taste like, my family loves them already! It’s so great to follow a blog where the recipes are simple, fun and well-spelled out. I probably wouldn’t Google Anzac biscuits otherwise, LOL, so having them appear in my inbox and be so closely related to a soft oatmeal cookie, makes them a winner, for us anyway! :-)
I’m glad they appeared in your inbox, too, and thanks for making them the same day I posted them. Leave it to you :) It’s always nice to have a little bit of the history/story of food and glad you don’t have to wait to google these & that your family enjoyed! xoxo
oh my gosh these look amazing!! i only have coconut sugar right now, do you think that would significantly change the texture vs brown sugar?
It will change the texture but I don’t necessarily think in a bad way, i.e. the recipe would fail. I think it will still work and there’s already coconut in them, so would be a nice flavor! LMK if you try!
thanks for getting back to me! i’m making them tonight and i am already so psyched. they look absolutely delicious, and i’ll definitely let you know how they turn out!
I have been meaning to make these kind of cookies forever. But yours look waaaaay better than the recipe I have! :)
Dorothy considering you love coconut and have a thing for Magic Bars and I know your overall likes…you would freakin’ LOVE THESE! No mixer, so easy!
I made these cookies last night! YUM! I couldn’t help from eating the dough, you were right about that! I only chilled the dough an hour and a half and broke down and baked 8. They did flatten out a tad more than yours but the taste was supreme! Crispy edges with soft middles full of texture! My husband liked them better then my oatmeal lace cookies I make for him and that’s a big compliment! Nice work Averie, as always!
Glad to hear that your hubs like these even better than something else you normally make for him! That’s a huge compliment and thanks for trying these the same day I posted the recipe!
YES! I love Anzac “biscuits” and these look especially amazing–esp. all the oats I can seee mmmm!
That’s cool you’ve heard of them and had them!
Thanks for the long comment and sharing your thoughts. I try to write recipes that I know people will make, so I call for ingredients that most of my readers will have in their pantry. I love G.S., yes, it’s great stuff – but I have to be realistic.
Glad you like the post!
It’s been nice to hear from so many Aussies – had no idea you all were reading :) And thanks for all the ideas about the subs. Something to play around with!
I love how many oats are peeking through the batter! As a chocoholic, I tend to forget about other types of cookies, especially ones made with oatmeal. I’m sure yours turned out even better than the ones at the potluck — your photos of them just look so gorgeous!
I love oats too and they’re a nice refresher from chocolate and PB :)
These cookies are the absolute best. I’m from New Zealand and I make these ALL THE TIME. My mum’s in love with them {isn’t everyone?!} so there’s almost always a batch of Anzac cookies hanging around the house when I’m home. They’re just so good!
That’s great!
Completely love your Blog, BTW.
I’m an Aussie, and just like every other Aussie, grew up on Anzac Biscuits. My husband isn’t a sweets fan, I know this makes him more than weird, he also hates PB and any combination of chocolate and banana, sometimes I can’t think why I married him, but anyway… Anzacs are his favourite/only biscuit he’ll eat. He loves them crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle, says this is the only way they should be. I have made many inedible (according to him) batches before nailing my cooking time to precisely 11 minutes.
Above, someone mentioned sub-ing Molasses for Golden syrup, do it! Really, I highly recommend it, it’ll allow for a much more traditional flavour.
That said, if you feel like splurging and ordering Golden Syrup online, I recommend that even more highly!!! I can give you a dozen recipes to use up the rest of the jar, that you will love! The flavour of Golden Syrup is simply spectacular, you have to try it, and really a dozen recipes easy!!!
Can’t agree more. Golden Syrup is a staple of sweet baking here in the UK, and Australia. There is really nothing to compare to it and while it’s great not to want to encourage your readers to buy something that uses such a small amount in this case it’s more than worth it! A spoonful on porridge/oatmeal makes winter days seem just a little more bearable and as others say there are tons of recipes out there. You will not be disappointed, I promise!!
I can’t even get people to buy bread flour for bread in the local supermarket; to get them to buy an expensive-ish product online, just to make cookies they’ve never heard of…well, I write recipes so that people make them, so I always give realistic options. I agree though G.S. is great – but not everyone will pop for it!
As I’ve told other Aussies (all of a sudden, you all come out! I’ve had more Aussies come out of the woodwork in 1 post than in 5 years of blogging) :) But I said that I can’t even get people to buy bread flour for bread in the local supermarket; to get them to buy an expensive-ish product online, just to make cookies they’ve never heard of.…well, I write recipes so that people make them, so I always give realistic options. I agree though G.S. is great – but not everyone will pop for it! I love molasses too. There’s not a syrup I don’t love! Thanks for reading my site and sharing how you make these cookies!
Just a note that I found golden syrup (Lyle’s) in the baking section of my Harris Teeter in Northern Virginia – maybe it’s becoming more widely-sold in the U.S.? I purchased it for another recipe and am glad I had another excuse to use it!
I tried making these with a vegan butter substitute for a friend that cannot have dairy – they didn’t work out but not because of the recipe; some things just aren’t meant for a butter substitute! I’ll try them again with good ol’ butter soon ;)
I was afraid that vegan butter or butter subs may not work…because as you said, some things just aren’t meant for a butter sub (great that you recognize that – and I agree!). Interesting about the H Teeter in VA stocking golden syrup. I have searched high and low in my area (15+ stores – no one ever has it) but that’s awesome you found it! LMK if you try the cookies again & what you think!
I love that you made these! As a proud Aussie they are very popular here, obviously of course on Anzac day- a tribute to the fallen soldiers of war in Australia.
I sent some packet ones recently to a fellow blogger in America who adored them!
What a sweet thing for you to send them to an American blogger!
Very interesting history. They really do look so chewy and moist. And I know that feeling when you get a recipe idea and can’t help but stop everything and make it! Love your passion for cookies!
Thanks Julie! And your recent cookies look amazing!