My sugar-free Anzac bickies

In honour of Anzac Day this week, I thought it a good time to share my sugar-free Anzac biscuit recipe. I make these almost every week for the kids lunch boxes, having tweaked a regular recipe to take out the sugar and butter.

I’m a huge fan of taking what I already make in the kitchen and improving it, rather than trying to come up with new stuff. I don’t have the time to be looking for new recipes and trying them out all the time. So I’ve largely just tried making the ones I know a bit healthier.

Not everything goes to plan. I’ve had a couple of disasters that ended up straight in the bin. I’ve tried a few different variations of these, depending on what I have in the cupboard, but the basic recipe is:

• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
• ¾ cup shredded coconut
• 3-4 tbs rice malt syrup
• ½ cup or so of coconut oil

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl; add the syrup and oil (you can heat them up first if the oil if hard, but I often just add them straight to the bowl). Mix them together. If the mixture is too dry or not holding together, add a tablespoon or so of water. Roll up spoonfuls, flatten on a baking tray and bake in a 160C oven for around 10-12 minutes.

 

Now, I’m a bit slap dash with my recipes, so I can’t say my measurements are 100 per cent accurate. I bake and cook by feel and taste most of the time, and tend to add extra dashes and dribbles according to how the mix looks.

The rice malt syrup doesn’t contain fructose, so that’s why the recipe is classed as sugar-free. Coconut oil is still a saturated fat, like butter, but it has many different properties which is why I choose to use it. For starters, it’s plant based, and as I use organic ingredients, I’m more confident in the integrity of the ingredient.

You can still use honey or maple syrup instead of rice malt syrup, but they contain fructose. They are however, less processed ingredients, so it depends on what you’re trying to achieve – cutting sugar or eating closer to nature.

Of course, I won’t be having any of this batch, as I’m on my detox for now, and these contain gluten. I’m sticking with my green smoothie and nut balls for a sweet treat, at least for another week 🙂