When I get my secret recipe club assignment, I go through the blog’s archives focusing mainly on healthy recipes. Salads,  and vegetarian categories are usually my first stop. This time things were a little different, I started my archive search with  bread and baked goods!

You see, May was a super stressful  month.We are moving to the United Arab Emirates in a couple of weeks and despite the fact that I have been preparing for this move for 4 months, the idea has not fully sinked in! The past few months and May in particular have been a hectic race to get everything done and organised in time for the move. I had to hand over my patients at the clinic to another Dr, the kids’  papers and school transfer arrangements, preparing the house, organizing the stuff to be shipped, the list goes on and on, I will spare you the headache and just say that venting through baking seemed like the only sane option.

My Secret recipe club assignment for this month was Easily good eats.

I had fun going through their archives as they had a great collection of semolina recipes, an ingreadient I don’t see often in baking recipes. I bookmarked quite a few recipes but the easy layered banana semolina cake recipe is definitely next on my baking list.I ended up making their Anzak biscotti because the oatmeal, coconut combination reminded me of my favorite cookie.

This Anzac biscotti is a spin off Anzac biscuits which are  sweet biscuits 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 has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation.

This biscotti recipe uses the three main players in Anzac cookies, hence the name.

Regardless of what you want to call these, I strongly recommend making a double batch, one will be gone before you know it!

Anzak biscotti

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup desiccated coconut

2 eggs

¾ – 1 cup sugar (original recipe suggests 1 cup, I used 3/4)

1 tablespoon golden syrup (I used honey)

 

Directions

• Heat the oven to 160°C/325°F
• In a bowl, mix flour, rolled oats and coconut.
• In another bowl, beat the sugar, golden syrup or honey and eggs until pale yellow.
• Add the flour mixture and mix until just blended. Let the dough rest for 5- 15 minutes. (This will allow the oatmeal to absorb part of the moisture and make the dough easier to handle)
• Divide the dough evenly into 2 equal mounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. With moist hands, space the dough evenly apart and form into logs

• Bake until lightly browned, about 25-30 minutes.

Note : ovens differ greatly, you want to bake these until the edges of the log are golden brown

• Cool for 10  minutes.
• Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into ¼ – ½ inch thick diagonal slices.
• Arrange the biscotti cut side down on the same baking sheet.

• Bake until the cookies are pale golden.
• Let cool completely.