Going Local for SHF #34 was going to prove problematic, I thought. Sure, we have Lamingtons, Pavlovas, TimTams and Vegemite – some of which have contentious origins, as far as being “Australian” goes. Apparently the first pavlova recipe was made in New Zealand, for example, and one of my favourite biscuits, the Anzac, appears to have come from parallel origins.

As there really is no reason to recreate something already as perfect-from-the-packet as the TimTam (unless of course you want to pimp that snack), I present to you, the humble Anzac Biscuit (originally an oat biscuit, now renamed to commemorate the ANZAC forces). My love affair with these deliciously chewy biscuits, stem from their simplicity in being cobbled together (one pan, one bowl, one spoon). These biscuits have no egg in them; rather, they are bound together by the inclusion of golden syrup, which based on the history of their origins, is partly due to the fact that eggs were scarce during the war. Aside from the great taste golden syrup lends, the lack of egg also enables them to stay fresh for longer. But like Belinda Jeffery says, it’s not often these popular biscuits would last that long in your house anyway.

It is also worth checking out this interesting article about the “Anzac Biscuit Myth”. And while you’re at it, why not whip up a batch of these biscuits. We can argue about where they come from, but there’s definitely no debate about where they’re going to end up – down the hatch, with a good cup of tea!

Anzac Biscuits :
(Recipe from Belinda Jeffery’s Mix & Bake)

90g rolled oats (not quick cooking oats)
50g shredded coconut
150g plain flour
165g castor sugar
125g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
whole blanched almonds (optional) for topping

Preheat your oven to 160’C. Line a couple of large baking trays with baking paper and set aside. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the oats, coconut, flour and sugar.

Put the butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan over low heat and warm them, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the boiling water and bicarbonate of sodar and stir them in briefly; just be a bit careful as the mixture froths up. Pour this buttery liquid into the oat mixture along with the vanilla extract. Quickly stir the two together until they’re thoroughly combined.

Roll the resulting sticky dough into walnut-sized balls, then flatten them slightly and sit them at least 5cm apart (as they spread quite a bit) on the prepared baking trays. Press an almond, if using, into the top of each biscuit; the almonds are really just a bit of window dressing to make them looking a bit different, so you certainly don’t have to use them. Depending on the size of your oven, you may find you need to bake these in batches.

Bake for 16-20 minutes or until the biscuits are deep golden brown but still soft, then remove them from the oven. Leave them to cool on the trays for a few minutes, then carefully transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Aside from work, I’ve managed to squeeze in a Frames concert (Aside : one of the best bands to see live. Ever. Glen Hansard has this .. joy .. about him, when he performs. The strength and beauty of his voice always amazes me. And the way the band works so cohesively, makes this an experience whereby your understanding and appreciation of their songs are actually enhanced by seeing them being performed live, as opposed to the reverse, where your appreciation of a live act is enhanced by the fact you already know the songs. Highlights include all that rampant singing along, the violin solo, Glen singing sans microphone, and the sample of Hotellounge by dEUS. This, I believe, might be the only chance I’ll ever get to hear dEUS live!). Also, D and I made a rushed trip, in the middle of work, to Restaurant 07 to see a demonstration by elBulli Taller research and development chef, Alain Devahive. More on that another time…

Sometimes my boss comes over to my work station and has this look on his face like he’s about to tell me that a client has requested fried kittens in caramel sauce for their special function. My first response is usually yes, but in this case I might ask if they could swap over to chipmunks because apart from this guy and this guy, chipmunks generally aren’t as cute as kittens.

This time however, it wasn’t kittens, but 5000 biscuits. I balked a little. One oven, three days; it just didn’t seem physically possible, even if I was to omit sleeping altogether. We reached a compromise, but I still wonder if I had passed on some Guinness Record challenge…

Recently I’ve been finding some afternoon tea respite from Kate Zuckerman’s The Sweet Life. The Pignoli cookies are great, as are the Gingersnaps, but the verdict’s still out on the Walnut Rugelachs. In any case, my heart still belongs to the Belinda Jeffery’s Anzac Biscuit. B sums it up nicely as follows : “Those Anzac biscuits must’ve been good because we’ve eaten nearly a whole tin’s worth” !

The chosen fruit for this month’s AFAM, as hosted by Sig of Live to Eat is the Lychee. I grew up eating a lot of lychees as a kid, and seeing them served in chinese restaurants with cubes of cold almond jelly as a dessert – and so was pretty amazed to discover last year that one of my co-workers had never tasted a lychee before. We plied her with a handful of the fruit and after a few tastings, she agreed that they were pretty nice, and likened them to being somewhat grapelike in flavour.

I love lychees, and was recently inspired by two things that led to my decision to participate in this event.

First item of inspiration came from this book and a picture of a lychee and ice-wine jelly with coconut and lime. Refreshing, clean flavours and lovely simple presentation. Then I watched Great British Menu, in which chef Mark Hix made an absolutely tantalising jelly out of perry and mixed berries, with elderflower ice-cream. Keiko of Nordljus recreated the recipe on her blog, using elderflower mousse instead of ice-cream with equally gorgeous results.

Enough procrastinating, I simply had to follow suit! In my version, I used less gelatine because the first time I made this, it turned out quite firm. If the jellies are being served set in their bowls, they can afford to be a little more …wobbly. Also, as lychees are already quite sweet, I reduced the amount of sugar in the jelly. If you’d rather stick with the original recipe, it’s available here.

Perry, a pear based cider, is not to be found in any Sydney bottle shop I’ve visited. As for apple cider, virtually only one brand is available in most places. Apparently Sydney isn’t mad for cider (even if I am). I used Strongbow Draft, for this jelly. If you can find something a bit more interesting in flavour, by all means use it. What you’ll end up with is a very delicious and refreshing jelly.

Cider Jelly with Lychees :
(serves 6)

750ml cider
5 gelatine leaves (gold strength), bloomed
100g sugar
1 tin lychees, drained (or fresh, if in season)

Heat 150ml of the cider and the sugar in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring almost to the boil, drain and squeeze the gelatine leaves, then add to the hot cider and stir until melted.

Remove from the heat, add the rest of the cider, stirring. Put the pan of jelly aside to allow it to cool a little.

Divide the lychees among your jelly moulds – I used 6 glass bowls for this, and got 3-4 lychees per bowl (some only had 3 because I did a lot of vigorous taste testing..). Pour in a third of the cooled jelly. Chill for an hour or so to set, then top up with the unset jelly. Chill several hours until completely set.