April 25 is the day to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Corps who fought at Gallipoli during WWI. But now it more broadly commemorates all the diggers who served or died in military operations. I always make Anzacs on Anzac Day but sometimes my Aussie husband misses home so I make him these….they are heaps easier to make than Lamingtons!

1 cup Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Coconut
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
125 grams Butter (about 1/2 cup; I actually measure butter(s) a kitchen scale)
2 Tablespoon Golden Syrup (Rogers Golden Syrup in Canada)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Tablespoons Water

Preheat oven to 325F.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In medium mixing bowl combine flour, rolled oats, coconut and brown sugar.
In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat; add golden syrup and water, stirring until syrup dissolves.
Stir in baking soda.
Pour butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined.
Using a 1.5ounce scoop, scoop out batter and drop 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, flatten biscuits slightly.
Bake in 325F. oven for 10 – 12 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from oven and let biscuits cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Anzac bickies…”I like the chewy ones, not the crunchy ones. You have to have real golden syrup.” says my husband.
“They’re called “bickies” not cookies!” he exclaims.
One of the things I love about Anzacs is that there aren’t any eggs in them!!! I can eat all the cookie do….biscuit dough I want! Sometimes I don’t get many bickies actually baked because I just want to eat raw co…biscuit dough!

I had a colossal fanging for a cookie the other day; it HAD to have Peanut Butter in it and I was thinking rolled oats too. I love Google! Typed my criteria into the field and came up with this recipe. I pretty much followed it to-the-T, with the exception of adding a generous handful of craisins.
Yes, it is heaps of Peanut Butter, but oh my goodness, they are good!

1 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips
1 cup Craisins

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly spray with Pam.

In medium mixing bowl combine w/w flour, baking soda, rolled oats, salt, chocolate chips and craisins; set aside.
In mixing bowl beat peanut butter and butter until creamy and smooth.
Add sugars; beat until light and fluffy.
Blend in eggs, one at a time; add vanilla.
Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and stir until blended.
Drop 1.5 ounce portions 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake 10 – 12 minutes or just until centres are set.
Cool on baking sheets for about 3 minutes.
Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: About 32 cookies

Thank you Kraft Canada for such a yummy Peanut Butter Cookie recipe!

A cake-like cookie that was very well received by the grade 3-4 class that I work in. I was a little worried they wouldn’t like them because they aren’t, well, you know, crunchy, like most cookies are! I think it was the chocolate chips that scored the extra brownie points. Oh, and one student thought they tasted like peanut butter! Which, now that he mentions it, they sort of, kind of do! It is the pumpkin that gives it that different texture and the combination of spices, fruit and chocolate that keeps you guessing, “Hmmm…what is that taste? I think I love it!”

1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon each: ground Ginger, Cloves and Nutmeg

1 cup Coconut
1 cup dried Cranberries or Raisins
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips

1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Pumpkin Puree

For the Glaze
1 cup Icing Sugar
2 Tablespoons Milk, or to right consistency
1/2 teaspoon Maple Flavouring

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly spray with vegetable oil spray.

In large bowl combine flours, oats, baking powder, salt and spices; set aside.
In a small mixing bowl combine coconut, dried cranberries (or raisins) and chocolate chips; set aside.
In mixing bowl beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (5 minutes), scraping down sides of bowl a couple of times.
Add eggs and vanilla and continue beating for about  a minute.
Stir in pumpkin puree.
Add the flour mixture, all at once, and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes.
While mixer is going, pour in fruit and coconut mixture.

Drop  1.5 ounce portions, 2 inches apart,  onto each baking sheet, I use a Pampered Chef scoop, or use a heaping Tablespoon.
Bake in 350F. oven for 12 minutes, rotate pans and continue baking for another 12 – 15 minutes until cookies are golden brown on the bottom and around the edges.
Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes.
Lift cookies off baking sheets and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the Glaze:
Mix together icing sugar, milk and maple flavouring in  a small bowl, adding more milk if necessary to get desired consistency.
Load glaze into a piping bag with the tip snipped off or a heavy grade Ziploc bag with one corner snipped off.
Pipe glaze over cookies.
Allow glaze to set before storing cookies in an airtight container.
Yield: 3 1/2 Dozen Cookies

I haven’t done a whole lot of baking with Pumpkin except the traditional Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving when Pumpkins are all over the place!  I think I will keep a can of pumpkin puree in the pantry in the future…
If you want to have a look at the original recipe head over to Chow; I did make a few substitutions…for one, I only had 1 cup of Pumpkin in the fridge. And I added lots of yummy stuff: Coconut, Chocolate Chips and Dried Cranberries.