- Cooking and Nutrition
- Families
Get baking!
Your mission this week is to go back in time to 1914 Australia and New Zealand and bake a First World War recipe. What do you think it would be like to receive these homemade biscuits when you’re a long way from home?
Mission Briefing
Part of the Family Mission series created during the UK lockdown in Spring 2020. CBBC Presenter Ben Shires delivers your Morse code mission briefing.
Hello, I'm Ben Shires and I’m here to tell you all about this week's IWM Family Mission.
If you've been watching ‘Adventures in History’ with Ngaire over on the IWM YouTube channel (and if you haven't seen it yet, it's still available so why not go watch it now?), you’ll have heard all about a very special type of biscuit. So, let's see what you've learnt.
[On screen: fridge magnets spelling out “Australia and New Zealand Army Corps”]
The special biscuit is called an ‘Anzac cookie’, but what on earth does Anzac mean? Yes, that's right, it stands for the ‘Australia and New Zealand Army Corps’. My goodness! You're good at this!
[On screen: a board with the words ANZAC DAY = 25 APRIL]
Ok, let's try another one then. In Australia and New Zealand, they have a special day where they celebrate and remember their Anzac soldiers. But what date is Anzac Day? Yes, that's right! It's the 25th of April. Very well done, I am super impressed.
And Anzac soldiers would have received these cookies from their friends and family back home, primarily because they could be made without egg, they travelled well, and they were always delicious!
Your family mission this week is to make your own Anzac cookies, so now I'll hand over to Olivia for the demo...
[On Screen:
1 cup oats
1 cup plain flour
¾ cup coconut
1 cup sugar
125g melted butter
1 tbsp of golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp of boiling water
Bake for 20 mins at Gas Mark 2 (150c/280f)
Go to IWM’s website for full instructions
Don’t forget to tell us how you get on or even better show us your biscuits on IWM’s Facebook and Twitter feeds
Enjoy your Anzac Cookies!]
If you’ve been watching our Adventures in History series, you’ll have heard from Ngaire about her New Zealand heritage and some stories of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, known as the ANZACs. The below recipe is a family recipe, kindly shared with you from Ngaire.
ANZAC Cookies
What you’ll need:
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup plain flour (give it a sift)
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ cup coconut
- 125g butter
- 1 tablespoon of golden syrup
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda · 2 tablespoons of boiling water
Instructions:
1. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl
2. In a small pan heat the butter and syrup over a really low heat, until the butter has melted.
3. Put the bicarbonate of soda into the 2 tablespoons of water (brew yourself a cup of tea as you have gone to the trouble of boiling the kettle!) add this bicarb/water mix into the pan with the melted syrup and butter and then stir all these wet ingredients into the dry ones.
4. Have some flat greased oven trays ready and (there is no rolling or cutting), for each biscuit just place 3 level teaspoons of mixture on the tin and push down a little. Ensure social distance at about 4cm between each biscuit!!
5. Bake for 20 minutes at Gas Mark 2, or 150C/280F
6. For the first batch it is best to keep an eye on them every few minutes after the 15 minute mark – you are looking for golden brown and best to loosen them off the tray while still warm.
This will give you about 30 biscuits and they can be popped in the freezer so you can stretch out your enjoyment of them!
They weren’t the only biscuits!
This British Army also made biscuits but they were notoriously hard and could crack teeth if not first soaked in tea or water! Tea was also part of the British soldier's rations. It was a familiar comfort and concealed the taste of water, which was often transported to the front line in petrol tins.
Sponsors
Family Mission has been created with the generous support of Old Possum's Practical Trust