New Zealand Anzac Cookies

Maybe this post should be titled: New Zealand Anzac Biscuits, because in New Zealand they call cookies "biscuits" and they call biscuits "scones." Are you keeping up? No? Yeah, neither am I. But I do love these cookies/biscuits so it doesn't really matter anyway. Call them what you like, they are good.

Meet my good friends Gillian and Gareth, the G's:

Gillian is one of my best friends from high school. After college, she began her career in the wine industry. She makes wine, people! How cool is that? This is how she met Gareth. He is from New Zealand. These two are actual soul mates, two halves of one whole, all that romantic, sappy stuff that you would normally NEVER hear me say, but I will say it about them because I just can't help it. So these two get to travel the world, following the harvest season in different countries. They have the most amazing lives. Their most recent trip was to Gareth's home country of New Zealand and they brought me back a little gift - The Edmonds Cookery Book. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this book:

The Edmonds Cookery Book is the quintessential guide to traditional New Zealand cuisine. It was first published as The Sure to Rise Cookery Book in 1907 as a marketing tool by a manufacturer of baking powder, but it is now known as a Kiwi icon. The front cover shows the old factory on Ferry Road in Linwood, Christchurch (since demolished) and their slogan "Sure to Rise"...

The book has been described as 'as much a part of New Zealand kitchens as a stove and knife', and that at one time it was 'sent unsolicited to every newly engaged couple in New Zealand.'

Edmonds recipe books have sold over 3,000,000 copies. It remains New Zealand's fastest selling book with over 200,000 copies sold in one year.

So for my softball team last week, I decided to bake something out of the book. Gareth recommended the Anzac Biscuits so that is what I made. They are very yummy. Sweet and hearty - the perfect fuel for a game. And I should probably point out that our team won last week. Maybe it was the cookies or maybe it was the fact that The G's came to cheer us on or maybe a combination of the two. The G's are off on their next adventure, working a harvest in France. I already miss them but I'll be turning to Edmonds to keep me busy until they return.

Anzac Biscuits
from The Edmonds Cookery Book

1/2 cup AP flour

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup melted butter

1 Tbs molasses

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbs boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, coconut, and rolled oats. On the stove, melt the butter and stir in the molasses until well combined. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add this to the butter mixture. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Place one tablespoon of mixture onto greased cookie sheets. The mixture will be very sticky so try not to handle it too much. I just used a tablespoon and scooped it out and onto the sheets with a teaspoon. The cookies will expand and flatten as they bake. Only put eight per cookie sheet, evenly spaced. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Yield: about 16 cookies.