April 25 is Anzac Day in Australia – the day that Australians celebrate the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.  And in Australia, we commemorate the day by baking Anzac biscuits (cookies to my US readers), to remember the wives of soldiers who baked these and sent them over to the soldiers since they did not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during transportation.  Typically they are made of rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water … do you see any problems with this considering my current state of allergies??

So I followed the recipe that I have on this website (here) and changed it up a little.  Gluten-free flour blend for the flour, vegetable shortening for the butter and for the golden syrup … who knew that you couldn’t find golden syrup on the grocery store shelves here in the US like in Australia?  I asked my mum what could be a good substitute … she suggested a mix of molasses, corn syrup and other stuff.  I did some research and found I could substitute with a mix of corn syrup and honey or maple syrup.  So Abby and I came up with the Great Anzac Biscuit Challenge.

We made a double batch of the recipe, but had 4 different combinations of light and dark corn syrup, honey and maple syrup.

We tried really hard to get them all prepared the same … and here was the result:

You can see on the parchment paper our labelling system – LCS, MS, etc … 

The verdict from the 4 taste testers (the family) … they all tasted pretty much the same, but none of them really had that deep golden-syrup flavor that we have come to know and love in our Anzac biscuits.  Grant suggested I use all of them mixed together as a crust for our Anzac Day cheesecake, and then we went on a search to find real golden syrup.  And we did!  So next weekend, to celebrate Anzac Day, our family will be partaking of our infamous white chocolate cheesecake (recipe here), made gluten-free and dairy-free, with Anzac biscuits as the base and as chunks throughout the cheesecake and a golden syrup swirl throughout.  We had such a great experience with this last year (see the picture below), that I really REALLY want to recreate it this year.

 So next week I’ll update you with how Abby and I go with this …

Until then, enjoy cooking at home … with kids!

Sarah