A Healthier Anzac Biscuit: Easy + Quick Recipe

anzac biscuits hot from oven

Ah, the hunt for a more healthy Anzac biscuit was long and fierce.

healthy anzac biscuits fresh from oven
Healthy Anzac biscuits fresh from the oven

Not really, I just changed the flour and reduced the sugar somewhat.

This is a very simple Anzac biscuit recipe, my kids can make it by themselves these days. And they do, but I must say that they eat an unholy amount of the raw mixture before the biscuits make it into the oven.

healthy anzac biscuit 3
Anzac biscuits, or do you call them Anzac cookies? Served on the Greenwheat pottery my parents got for a wedding present in 1960 in Scotland.

Over the past few years, I’ve trained myself off commercial, mass-produced biscuits.   I really never eat them now.

But I could about a million bazillion of these Anzac biscuits.  Luckily, the kids eat them up very fast too and save me from myself.

I sometimes make a double batch and then freeze half to pull out and make biscuits with later… or just to nibble by the spoonful.

Anzac biscuit mixture in a box
Anzac biscuit mixture, ready to freeze
Healthy Anzac Biscuit
Yield: 15 biscuits

Healthy Anzac Biscuit

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 90g (1 cup) rolled oats
  • 200g (1.5 cups) plain wholemeal flour
  • 200g (1 cup) raw sugar
  • 60g (2/3 cup) desiccated coconut
  • 125g butter
  • 1 tbs (30g) golden syrup
  • 1 tsp bicarb of soca
  • 2 tbs boiling water

Instructions

    1. Heat the oven to 160 degrees C.
    2. Mix oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
    3. Melt butter and syrup together. I generally do this in the microwave, very gently.
    4. Mix water with bicarb of soda then pour onto butter/syrup mix. It will froth up madly.
    5. Stir in the dry ingredients. If the mixture is very crumbly, add in a bit more water. It should be easy to form a ball, but not wet.
    6. Form into balls and place on an oiled baking tray, flatten with a fork.
    7. Bake for 12 - 20 minutes depending on size/oven.
    8. Eat whilst warm. Enjoy immensely.
    9. Run around with kids to burn off the kilojoules!

Notes

If I don't have raw sugar, I use brown sugar or caster sugar. It's a very adaptable recipe.

NB the cup measurements are not 100% accurate, as the metric measurements do not correspond exactly.

healthy anzac biscuit 1
Hot from the oven!
healthy anzac biscuit 6
These golden brown Anzac cookies will have a chewy centre. I often cook have half like this and then bake the other half a bit browner and then the biscuit is a firm, indeed hard, biscuit.
anzac cookie mixture in bowl
It’s hard not to scoff heaps of the mixture!

Yes, I know, I know they’ve still got masses of butter and sugar, but using wholemeal flour and raw sugar is a wee touch healthier, don’t you reckon?

anzac biscuits  healthy recipe

Pin me for later! 

Do try these, they are lovely. 

Do you have any twists on the old Anzac yourself?

Share with a friend

Join the Conversation

8 Comments

  1. The best and easiest recipe! I am going to get the boys to make these for themselves in the school holidays…love that they are a simple mix and bake – might just keep the kitchen mess to a minimum as well! x PS mum always put walnuts in anzac biscuits or made it into a slice instead of individual biscuits.

    1. says: Seana Smith

      Walnuts would be lovely, and my kids rarely eat nuts so I’m always trying to hide them in other things. Great plan. My wee ones can almost make these by themselves, do love that they are learning to cook and bake alone.

  2. says: Linda

    Hi Seana
    I love Anzac bikkies. My mum used to make them when we were kids. I think an addition of dried fruit would be good, however then they’d be called muesli cookies probably!

    1. says: Seana Smith

      Hi there, I have added in the cups now. They don’t quite go exactly, eg one cup of desiccated coconut is 90g not 100g… but it’s near enough. Cheers.

Leave a comment
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *