ANZAC Biscuits

Today is ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp. From what I understand, ANZAC Day seems to be very similar to Memorial Day here in the USA. We've had family visit both Australia and New Zealand and my father-in-law introduced us to ANZAC Biscuits. Biscuits here in the USA are cookies. These are awesome and easy to make - and very forgiving, as I found out over Christmas. Everything I could do to mess up these cookies, I did. I was doing too many things at once and kept messing up the ingredients. First, I doubled the butter (because I'm used to making Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookies and I let autopilot take over). Then, because I was force to double the recipe, I had to use molasses and sugar to make up for my shortage of brown sugar. They still turned out great. Then again, what else can you expect from a biscuit/cookie born out of war-time shortages.
There are various accounts of how ANZAC biscuits originated. Some say they were made by soldiers who made what they could with what they had. Others say they were made by the women back home who wanted to send sweets to their soldiers, but had to work with war-time rations (and the biscuits had to survive the long trip without going bad). Regardless of how they originated, they are a favorite treat in the Australia and New Zealand area and at our house. I hope you enjoy them as well.
ANZAC Biscuits
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 tbsp boiling water

Combine the flour (sifted), oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon tablespoon of mixture onto a greased cookie sheet leaving space between biscuits to allow for spreading. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.
Personal Note: It isn't authentic, but if you don't like coconut, you can substitute chopped nuts.