Anzac Biscuits (Oat and Coconut Cookies)

By Brian Levy

Updated April 14, 2026

  • Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
1 hr 15 min
(45 min, plus 30 min cooling)
Rating
5(277)
Comments
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Anzac biscuits, crispy caramel-y cookies rich in oats and coconut, originally gained popularity after World War I as a way to celebrate the veterans from the Australian continent (ANZAC, an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, had recently been coined). While there's a romantic myth that Anzac biscuits were sent to soldiers by loved ones to sweeten their days on the battlefield during World War I, the original Anzac “tiles” or “wafers” were army rations that were notoriously hard, unpalatable and bland. The deliciously sweet Anzac biscuits that became a ubiquitous staple of Down Under baking in the decades that followed owe their satisfying texture to toasty rolled oats and shredded coconut, and their caramelized character to brown sugar and golden syrup. This recipe requires no eggs; slightly acidic golden syrup and brown sugar react with baking soda, bubbling into a sweet foam that both binds and lightly aerates the dough (and simultaneously sparks a note of grade school science project nostalgia).

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Ingredients

Yield:20 servings

  • 1⅓ cups/132 grams old-fashioned rolled oats

  • 1¼ cups/170 grams all-purpose flour

  • ¾ cup/62 grams unsweetened shredded coconut (see Tip)

  • ⅔ cup/132 grams granulated sugar

  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt

  • 1¼ teaspoons baking soda

  • 10 tablespoons/141 grams unsalted butter (see Tip)

  • ¼ cup/53 grams light brown sugar

  • 4 teaspoons/28 grams golden syrup or honey (see Tip)

  • 3 tablespoons/45 grams water

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

      1. Step 1

        Heat the oven to 325 degrees and line two 13-by-18-inch sheet pans with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oats, flour, coconut, granulated sugar and salt. Set aside.

      1. Step 2

        Measure out your baking soda and keep it handy. In a medium saucepan over medium, heat the butter with the brown sugar, golden syrup and water, stirring occasionally, until the butter has completely melted and the mixture starts to lightly bubble. Immediately take the saucepan off the heat and add the baking soda. Stir for a few seconds, until the mixture expands to a blondish foam about twice its original volume.

      1. Step 3

        Pour the foamy liquid over the flour mixture, scraping as much as you can from the pan. Mix just until the dry and wet ingredients are very evenly combined, then lightly press the dough into a mass at the bottom of the bowl. Let it rest for 5 minutes; this will make it easier to shape.

      1. Step 4

        Scoop a couple tablespoons of dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball about 1 ½ inches in diameter; place on one of the parchment-lined pans. (If the dough is too crumbly to easily form balls, stir in some water, ½ teaspoon at a time, until it binds.) Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the balls 2 inches apart. 

      1. Step 5

        With your hand, flatten the dough balls slightly, then bake for 17 to 22 minutes, until light reddish golden brown (for chewier cookies) or deep amber (for crunchier cookies), depending on your preference. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

      1. Step 6

        Once completely cooled, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

    Tips

    • To make Anzac cookies without coconut, simply omit the coconut and replace with an additional ½ cup/52 grams oats.

    • To make the cookies vegan, use vegan butter in place of dairy butter.

    • Lyle’s Golden Syrup, made from cane sugar, is easy to find in the baking aisle of many American grocery stores these days or online, but if you’re unable to get your hands on some, honey is a serviceable substitute—though the flavor will differ slightly.

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    Ratings

    5 out of 5
    277 user ratings
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    Comments

    Kat

    As an American married to an Aussie, I can attest that ANZAC Biscuits are the best. It’s worth it to track down Lyle’s Golden Syrup. We always have some around. Golden syrup has a caramel flavor profile and contributes to a really unique honeycomb/caramelized flavor and texture in combination with the oats & unsweetened coconut. Sure you can substitute other sweeteners and get a tasty cookie, but don’t call it an ANZAC biscuit ;-) Best bet might be 3 parts honey to one part light molasses to get that caramel flavor. Other tip is to use fairly fresh baking soda. The mixture is supposed to foam up before your eyes. It’s a different approach to baking/leavening than the typical American cookie. The end result is an epic chewy to crispy biscuit. Easy to make and keeps well, but good luck with that part!

    Mary

    @gordon if you're near a World Market, you can find Lyle's Golden Syrup there too. No Amazon truck delivery required!

    Lew in Maine

    Living in a rural area, I am often without a ready source of NYT's recipe ingredients. Here, unsweetened shredded coconut, in a recipe that also calls for added sugar. Is there any formula for substituting sweetened shredded coconut and decreasing additional sugar, or do I have to mail-order ingredients for yet another delicious-sounding recipe? Or --is sweetened shredded coconut somehow different from unsweetened beyond the sweetening?

    Zelda

    Toothsome and delicious.

    Ginny

    My biscuits came out so flat that they looked like a one pancake! Next time I will chilled them for 30 minutes and I won’t flat them out.

    chefsacky

    Made this as directed with 1/2 honey and 1/2 light caro syrup as a sub for the Lyles. Also put the cookie dough in the fridge for several hours due to time constraints. I think it made shaping the dough balls a little easier. I’d make the balls a bit smaller next time. They spread too much on one tray that got more golden brown and started to overlap.

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