Vegan Anzac Biscuits Oatmeal Cookies

I love making healthier versions of the classic Australian and New Zealand recipes, like my Healthy Caramel Slice, Weetbix Slice, or Feijoa Crumble. Anzac Biscuits are popular New Zealand and Australian cookies mainly made of rolled oats, coconut, butter, baking soda, golden syrup, and flour. They are sweet, crispy cookies traditionally served on Anzac Day on April 25 to remember the soldiers who fought in Gallipoli during World War I.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Let’s have a look at what you need to make crispy Anzac biscuits:

Flour – all-purpose wheat flour or spelt or all-purpose gluten-free flour. Rolled Oats – not instant oats, you need jumbo rolled oats. Unsweetened Desiccated coconut Brown Sugar – this is the secret to making crispy cookies on the outside but still chewy on the inside. You can also use white sugar but you won’t have a chewy Anzac biscuit inside. Maple Syrup – the classic recipe is made of golden syrup, maple syrup is a refined sugar-free option that adds a delicious flavor to the cookies. Baking Soda – to rise them a tad. Boiling Water Coconut Oil – or melted vegan butter.

How To Make Vegan Anzac Biscuits

A classic Anzac biscuit recipe is not vegan because it contains butter. To make vegan Anzac biscuits, you can replace the butter with vegan butter or coconut oil. Also, to add nutrients to your vegan Anzac biscuits, I recommend using an unrefined liquid sweetener like maple syrup or date syrup, or coconut nectar. So basically, an Anzac biscuit is an egg-free oatmeal cookie with coconut. It tastes like oat breakfast cookies, and you don’t have to wait for Anzac day to make some. They are great vegan breakfast cookies for any day.

Watch How I Make Them

Tips For Chewy Anzac Biscuits

There are two teams when it comes to Anzac biscuits. Some people love them thin and crispy, and others like them, chewy. Let me share my tips to make them match your favorite texture. The key to making your Anzac biscuits chewy is to use brown sugar, slightly more liquid sweetener than the classic recipe, and flatten the cookies a bit thicker. If you follow these 3 steps, you will have a chewy cookie on the inside. On the other hand, if you love yours crispy and thin, use white sugar, reduce the liquid sweetener by 2 tablespoons and flatten your cookies thinly before baking. This will make crispy Anzac biscuits.

A Healthier Anzac Biscuit Recipe

This recipe contains 30% less sugar than a classic Anzac biscuit recipe and uses coconut oil instead of butter. In fact, coconut oil has great antibacterial properties due to the high amount of lauric acid, and it doesn’t contain vegetable oils as you would find in most vegan butter types. Also, coconut oil’s flavor is amazing, and the texture of the cookies is crispier on the border. However, if you prefer to use vegan butter, you can. The cookies will spread more on the baking sheet, and the texture will be softer.