One of the most prominent and contentious differences between the American and English languages is the word ‘biscuit’. Most people would tell you that the American translation is ‘cookie’ and leave it at that. Of course, the delicious fluffy buttermilk biscuits we enjoy here in the Southern US are a completely different thing, unknown to the rest of the world. Express a hankering for a fried chicken biscuit to your English-speaking colleagues and hilarity will likely ensue (as Lauren once found out).

We believe there’s more to it than that though—there’s a distinct difference between English biscuits and American cookies. Biscuits are traditionally hard, whereas Americans like their cookies soft. (A quality that appears to often be achieved by loading them up with so much sugar that the other ingredients can barely hold it together.) So we have an agreement on how to resolve the language dispute: soft cookies are cookies and hard cookies are biscuits.

ANZAC biscuits, then, are definitely biscuits. Legend has it that soldiers of the Australia-New Zealand Army Corps, serving in Europe in the First World War, used to receive them in care packages from home. They were baked hard to survive the journey of many weeks or months across the world.

Early on the morning of the 25th of April, 1915, ANZAC troops (under British command) began landing on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula, in modern-day Turkey. It was the beginning of an ill-fated campaign to wrest control of the Dardanelles straight from the Ottoman Empire, thus opening access to the Mediterranean for the Russian Black Sea Fleet. And every year on the 25th of April, ANZAC Day, New Zealanders and Australians the world over pause to remember just what a colossally bad idea that was. Lest We Forget.

ANZAC Biscuits

{makes 10 biscuits}

The Dry
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 tsp baking soda

The Wet
1.5 ounces (5o grams) butter, melted
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350°F (160°C).

In a large bowl combine all of your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, melt your butter then whisk in the golden syrup and vanilla. Add this to the dry ingredients and start mixing. If it is too crumbly to roll into a ball, add up to two tablespoons of warm water. Roll the dough into golf-ball-sized balls and place staggered on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. You’ll know they’re finished when the edges start to brown. Take them out and let them cool completely before gobbling them up. And obviously, they last forever—just not in our house.