Saturday, April 25, 2009

Lest We Forget

Some time last week I asked my friend SL what time his Saturday Soccer game was going to be on. I told him eagerly that I was going to be making a chocolate truffle cake to bring for the team to nom on. He replied:

"Err, mate...we don't have a game next week? It's Anzac Day!"

As much as I wanted to come up with some witty comment to divert the attention away from my forgetting Anzac Day, but really the only thing that was running through my head was,

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh!
Right."

See. I knew that? Right?
And then I just felt terrible. My imaginary tail stopped wagging instantly. Instead I thought perhaps I'll make my first batch of Anzac Cookies at home. I used to make them at our Open Days back in high school, but at the time I had fellow bakers around me doing all the mixing, moulding and what not.

I just kind of floated around the room pretending to be a wisp, occasionally letting out a "Oh that looks gorgeous!"

Truth is, I'm a TERRIBLE baker, and the idea of having to do something new in the oven discomforts me slightly.

You may wonder why I was going to make the Chocolate Truffle Cake then?

Long story. I'll explain it when I post my recipe up some time in the future. Yes, there's a story behind it. A good one too.

In the meantime I don't want another cake stealing the limelight from these delicious cookies.

Upon hearing that I was planning on making Anzac Cookies for the weekend, my boss quickly grabbed her mother SJ so that she could give me her recipe. I've tried them myself once at work before, and I must say I was an instant fan.

There's nothing like smelling freshly baked cookies at work. Seriously.

I have to say that this recipe was probably the first recipe that has been handed down to me all written on paper. (I took a photocopy of it) Sounds weird I know - it's not like my mother's never given me any of her recipes before, no - but I've never had anyone given me their own personal recipe on paper, all recorded before. All the recipes which I've stolen from my mother have all been gathered by sneaking up behind her and learning it off by sight (and she's now refusing to show me any more of her recipes because we have a bit of competition going on to see who can cook better. I'm clearly winning hands down blindfolded - Duh.)

Either way, these cookies were a real treat for me. As you'll see soon enough, the recipe is easy enough to follow (and memorize).


Except my mixture came out a little dry. I attempted to salvage the situation by adding a little more water to the mixture, but it was still a bit crumbly when I tried moulding them in my hands. This isn't stovetop cooking, so I was really out of my depth as to knowing what to do next, so I just popped them into the oven as little round balls and crossed my little fingers that they would flatten out eventually.

And yes they did - only I think the baby on the bottom right hand corner of the tray went a little too far and just decided to fall apart on me completely. I ate that one first. And boy, despite splaying itself out like a car had just run it over, it tasted like heaven nevertheless. They weren't too sweet, still a little chewy, and perfect with a glass of milk.

Except I'm not supposed to drink milk. It makes my stomach go nutters and then I just hide in the WC for the entire afternoon.

Sheila's Anzac Cookies
(Newbie-bakers-friendly)

Buy:
1 cup of Self-Raising Flour
1 cup of Rolled Oats
1 cup of Sugar (I used Caster)
1 cup of Desiccated Coconuts

1/4 lb Butter (roughly 1/2 cup)
2 tblsp Water
2 tblsp Golden Syrup
1 tsp Bicarbonate Soda

Cook:
  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. In a large mixing bowl, roughly mix flour, rolled oats, sugar and desiccated coconuts.
  3. In a small saucepan, melt butter
  4. Add water and golden syrup into saucepan, mixing gently. Bring to boil
  5. Turn off heat and add bicarbonate soda. This will cause the mixture to froth up. Wait for the froth to settle a little and pour into dry ingredients.
  6. Mix to combine everything.
  7. With your hands, roll mixture into small round balls roughly 4cm in diameter.
  8. Bake on second shelf for 5-10minutes. (I'm not too sure about the time, because there was no time on the original recipe and so I just literally watched the oven until the cookies were done. It didn't take long though.)
  9. Remove cookies from oven and cool on tray for about 5minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
  10. Nom it while it's warm.

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