Happy Australia Day!

In honour of it being Australia Day today [and also because I lived in Sydney for half of my twenties] I decided I would bake some Anzac Biscuits for Peanut to try. Yummy.

If you’d like to try them for yourself, they have an oaty, golden syrupy flavour. On the day you bake them they’re crunchy, but they develop a softer texture while in storage. This recipe makes about two dozen biscuits.

You will need:
120gm butter
2 tablespoons [40ml] golden syrup
92gm rolled oats
85gm desiccated coconut
150gm plain flour
168gm caster sugar
1 tablespoon [20ml] boiling water
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius [a little less if fan forced] and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Place golden syrup and butter into a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring frequently. Stir flour, oat, sugar and coconut together in a large bowl. When butter has melted, combine soda and boiling water in a small bowl and stir into butter and golden syrup mixture. Add ingredients together and stir until well combined.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls about 5cm apart on trays. Flatten balls with a fork. Bake for about 15 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown [a little longer will result in crisper, drier biscuits which you may prefer]. Remove from oven and allow to fully cool. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Home alone

Husband has been a very busy boy today so I’ve been home alone a lot. Probably a good thing considering I haven’t washed and wouldn’t want to scare anyone by going out in public!

He kick started activities by going out for a mountain bike ride in the very muddy forest with a couple of friends. They returned a few hours later coated up to their eyeballs, requiring a hose down in the garden. One friend made an early exit so I hope he’s ok and wasn’t sick on his way home. I think the conditions were quite extreme so it was probably very tough going for his first time out. I hope it hasn’t put him off doing it again.

The favour was then returned when husband decided he and Peanut would go out for a walk to buy the newspaper, giving me a bit of time to myself. When he came home he confessed to having nearly bought me flowers but thought I wouldn’t approve of him spending the money. It was nice to hear the thought was there though. I must write a post about our money story so you understand where these kind of comments come from. Another day.

Now he’s out again, having taken Peanut to her swimming lesson. Sometimes I go along too but he said I could stay home today and get dinner ready. Not a completely selfless gesture as he’s going out for a quick drink with his brother this evening, to provide him with a shoulder to cry on, and needs to be out of the house by 6.

Therefore my task for this afternoon is to get meat pie and all the trimmings on the table for 5pm. I really should go and put the potatoes on to part boil or they’ll never be roasted in time. But apart from that, the steak pie is ready to rock as I slow cooked the meat last night and the puff pastry is already on.

A year ago I didn’t cook hardly at all [I've never had much interest in food if it’s not high in sugar and bad for me] but for some reason I became interested in being a domestic goddess at the beginning of 2007 and it seems to have stuck. Must be my age catching up with me!