A classic Kiwi and Aussie favourite, these Gluten-Free Anzac Biscuits are everything you love about the traditional, easy to make oaty biscuit, in gluten free form.
Heat the oven to 160°C and line 2 - 3 baking trays with baking paper.
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the rolled oats, brown sugar and coconut, and stir to combine, breaking up any lumps of brown sugar with the back of a spoon.
Put the butter, golden syrup and water into a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat, whisk in the baking soda until dissolved - the mixture will bubble and foam up.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until well combined. The dough will be quite crumbly, but you should be able to roll a ball of it in your hand. If it's too crumbly to do that, add a little extra melted butter, 1 teaspoon at a time.
Roll a tablespoon of the dough at a time into balls, and place at least 2" apart on the baking trays. For smaller cookies, use a heaped teaspoonful of dough instead. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand.
Bake for 10-14 minutes. 10 minutes should give you soft biscuits, 12 minutes should give you crunchy edged biscuits with chewy centres, and 13-14 minutes should give you crunchy biscuits. Keep an eye on your first tray of cookies and take note of the time they need to be baked as you desire. Smaller biscuits will take less time to bake.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool. If you like extra crunchy biscuits, you can let them cool completely on the trays.
Store in an airtight container.
Notes
Gluten free flour - I use my favourite gluten-free baking flour blend to make these biscuits. You can use a ready-made gluten-free flour blend if you prefer. Different flour blends contain different ingredients, so you may need to adjust the recipe, depending on the blend. If your baked biscuits don't spread enough or are too dry, try adding a little bit more melted butter to the next batch.Gum - I don't add any binding gums like xanthan gum to these biscuits because I don't find they need it. If your cookies turn out crumbly, you could add 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum to the dry ingredients. Most ready-made gluten-free flour blends will contain a gum ingredient already.Cookie scoop - I like to use a cookie scoop to portion out my cookie dough, but a good old spoon like the Anzac wives and families would have used does the job just fine too.
Oat Free Gluten Free Anzac Biscuits For Coeliacs
Most people with Coeliac disease cannot eat oats, as one of the proteins in oats, avenin, can trigger the same symptoms as gluten. These biscuits can be made with quinoa flakes instead to make them safe for those who can't tolerate oats but simply swapping the oats for the same measurement of quinoa flakes. The quinoa flakes are slightly smaller than oats, but they have essentially the same texture. They do have that distinct nutty quinoa flavour though, so if you're not a huge fan of that I would suggest reducing the amount of quinoa flakes by 25-50 grams and increasing the desiccated coconut by the same amount. You could also add a splash of vanilla extract to help distract from the quinoa flavour too if you find it bothersome.