Monday 13 May 2013

Anzacs Revisited

Having just purchased a new recipe eBook this morning & begun perusing the TO recipe section I was starting to get a little peckish so once the kids were asleep hit the kitchen with a vengeance.  Using neither of the above resources(!)... I decided to give the Anzacs another go to test a combination of the recipes of previous attempts. (1. Sweet Poison, 2. This is Taryn, both sugar-free, but #2 is also gluten-free).  I'm only wheat-free & felt the latter lacked oats & sweetness, the former was too crispy & sweet.  I had used glucose syrup in both those recipes although #2 called for Rice Malt Syrup, which I didn't have at the time... I have lots now thanks to being on special at Coles. 

I kept closest to #2 but replaced 1 cup flaked almonds with rolled oats. For sweetness I used 4 Tbs of RMS & only 1/2 cup dextrose.  I believe the original recipes had similar quantities of butter & syrup, but stated them differently.  I found it easier to measure 4 tablespoons as opposed to 1/4 cup of the sticky stuff.  Not being an expert in the baking department I note #1 uses baking powder & #2 bicarbonate soda - I have no idea what the difference is & stuck to bicarb as it came to hand first.  The other compromise (& fair to say guesstimate) I made was to adjust the cooking temp to 140degC, because of the inclusion of dextrose but also as my oven seems to need less time otherwise.  

I also wanted to avoid using baking paper (considering the last batch with xanthum gum were hard to peel off) so used a silicon sheet to lay them on & ran out of space after 12, therefore greased a separate metal tray with butter for the remainder.  Now for some reason those on the metal tray browed quicker, even though the silicon sheet was laid on a metal tray.  I ended up having to cook those for a further 10mins to achieve same golden colour.  If anyone has thoughts or knowledge to why this would be I'd be keen to know.  I would have thought the overall temperature around & directly underneath would be the same ???

Both sheets were easy to remove the biscuits from & I transferred to a wire rack.  At this point the biscuits has some sponginess, but upon cooling increased crunch.  The aroma awoke the mini taste-testers & the returning biscuit expert.  All of which gave a big thumbs up verdict :)   So I am writing this one up for keeps!
Fructose-free Wheat-free Anzac Biscuits
The texture was awesome (if I do say so myself!) & the flavour just right.  The silicon tray batch which were cooked 10min longer did have a very slight bitter tinge, but not enough to put anyone off.

A few have gone down very well this afternoon with a nice cuppa coffee.  Some soda water would have also been refreshing, but alas the gas cylinder has just run out (first time) & upon trekking to both KMart & Woolies they were all out :(  

1 comment:

  1. If these were the ones you brought to visit that time you came up they are indeed delicious. :)
    Back when I was young my mum and a lady from church, Beth, used to have what i now think foldly of as the anzac wars. My mum made them chewy, Beth crunchy and both swore theirs were the best. I must admit in most things cooking wise, particularly these days being GF (including oats) and refined sugar free although not fructose free, my mum and I disagree totally but I would still go a chewy Anzac over a crunchy if a choice was available. I wonder if it is the glden syrup that makes them chewy or simply bake time. Hmmm

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