On April 25 every year, many New Zealanders get up extremely early to attend an Anzac Day dawn ceremony to honor the war dead. I always meant to do that, but never could convince myself to set my alarm for 3:30 am. Still, I grew up with a strong attachment to ANZAC Day and stories of the toughness and spirit of New Zealand soldiers who fought overseas in one of New Zealand's first major military expeditions. I have even bought my son books about New Zealand's involvement in World War I (his favorite is The Bantam and the Soldier). Many New Zealanders see Anzac Day as equal in importance to Waitangi Day, which celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (New Zealand's founding document) between the British Crown and Māori chiefs. When World War I broke out in 1914, New Zealand was no longer a colony, having gained self-governance in 1907, but was still a young country with close ties to Great Britain. Anzac Day helped forge a new national identity that still resonates today.
Anzac Day commemorates the 1915 landing of ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) troops at Gallipoli in Turkiye (the heart of the Ottoman Empire). With the Allies directed by Winston Churchill and the Ottomans under the command of Mustafa Kemal, the Battle of Gallipoli was truly a clash of empires. The first Anzac Day was held in 1916 and was initially used by the Australian and New Zealand governments to recruit soldiers to enlist in the war. By 1922, New Zealanders wore red poppies pinned to their clothes to commemorate the sacrifice of fallen soldiers. Modern Anzac Day celebrations have evolved into a more general remembrance day that honors soldiers and other fallen from all the wars that New Zealand has participated in, but Gallipoli still has a powerful hold over the New Zealand imagination.
Before being sent to Turkiye as soldiers, many New Zealanders likely couldn't locate Gallipoli on the map, but in 1915, thousands of Allied troops landed there in a sort of proto-D-Day event. Despite many New Zealanders' fondness for this day of remembrance, the event it commemorates was a bloody debacle. The Allies aimed to capture Constantinople (modern Istanbul), a strategic prize as the gatekeeper of supply ship movements between the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. Early attempts by Allied forces to destroy fortifications along the Gallipoli peninsula were unsuccessful, and the Allies encountered heavy fire from the Ottomans while landing. What followed was eight months of vicious trench fighting that claimed 200,000 Allied and over 250,000 Turkish lives. The Allies eventually withdrew from Gallipoli in December 1915. 2779 New Zealanders lost their lives there, at a time when New Zealand's population was just over 1 million.
In my opinion, the best thing to come out of Anzac Day is Anzac biscuits, oat and coconut cookies that New Zealand women whipped up to send to the troops in care packages (Australians also claim to have invented Anzac biscuits, but as everyone knows, they cannot be trusted). Anzac Biscuits are made from a straightforward recipe with simple ingredients that stayed fresh during the long passage on supply ships to Europe. You can make them yourself today (and I highly recommend that you do, because they are delicious). Golden syrup is a New Zealand pantry staple that can be hard to find in the USA, but you can substitute maple syrup, molasses (I like to use a combination of the two), or corn syrup for the golden syrup and still get an excellent flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 cup/150 g of plain flour (I used wholewheat/meal)
- 1 cup/220 g of caster (superfine) sugar
- 1 cup/90 g of desiccated coconut
- 1 cup/100 g of rolled oats
- 125 g of butter/margarine
- 1 tablespoon (2 tablespoons in North America) of golden syrup or treacle
- 2 tablespoons of boiling water
- 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Line baking trays with baking paper.
- Combine dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, desiccated coconut, plain flour, and caster sugar.
- Melt butter and golden syrup: In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and golden syrup together. Remove from heat.
- Prepare bicarbonate mixture: In a cup, mix the boiling water and bicarbonate of soda together. Add this mixture to the melted butter and golden syrup. The mixture will foam up.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients: Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. If the mixture is too crumbly, add a small amount of water until it holds together.
- Shape the biscuits: Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place them on the prepared baking trays. Flatten slightly with your hands. Leave space between each biscuit as they will spread during baking.
- Bake: Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. For crunchier biscuits, bake longer; for softer biscuits, bake for a shorter time.
- Cool: Allow the biscuits to cool on the trays for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Though New Zealanders tend to eat most of their Anzac Biscuits on or around Anzac Day, you can make and enjoy them at any time of the year. I hope you have enjoyed this investigation into the origins of Anzac Day and the tasty cookies that originated in World War I. Enjoy your baking!
Hailing from New Zealand, Ngaire Smith currently lives in the mountains of North Carolina. She has worked in academic libraries both in the USA and New Zealand for many years and believes strongly in the power of librarians to help students succeed in their studies.