These vegan Anzac biscuits are made with oatmeal, coconut and golden syrup for the most delicious crunchy cookie that will have you going back for seconds (and thirds).
Anzac biscuits are a classic Australian cookie, similar to an oatmeal cookie, but super crunchy.
The style is very similar to how we make oatmeal cookies in South Africa, though we call them ‘crunchies’ (cos they’re so crunchy!). We used a very similar recipe (and method) when we made our vegan oatmeal bars.
In Australia (and Britain, and South Africa) a ‘biscuit’ is a cookie!
So let’s get baking!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Vegan butter – you can use ANY vegan butter, super soft tub style or sticks, it won’t make any difference, since we melt the butter for these cookies.
- Golden syrup – this is a caramel flavored syrup easily available in Australia, the UK and South Africa. It’s available on Amazon as well, and likely at certain stores in the US, but you can also swap this out for maple syrup, dark corn syrup or any table syrup.
- Dessicated coconut – is also called finely shredded coconut.
How To Make Vegan Anzac Biscuits
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add all purpose flour, rolled oats, dessicated coconut and light brown sugar to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add vegan butter to a saucepan along with golden syrup and heat over medium heat, stirring until melted.
- Add baking soda and stir in. It will foam up (this is normal) so just be careful.
- Immediately remove from the heat and pour it over the dry ingredients. Add in your vanilla extract and mix into a cookie dough.
- Break off pieces of the dough and form flat round cookie patties with your hands.
- Place them onto two parchment lined baking trays. Aim to get 20 cookies in total, placing 10 onto each tray.
- Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes until golden brown on top.
- Let them cool and firm up directly on the trays before moving.
Chef’s Tips
Bake them on two trays. I usually squash all my cookies onto one tray, but not this time! These cookies need space because they are supposed to be flat and crispy. So they just don’t fit well all on one tray. Spread them out over two trays. You can then bake them at the same time but rotate the trays partway through baking, or do what I do and bake them one batch at a time (no rotation of trays needed!).
Bake time. We found 12 minutes to be perfect. However, they are supposed to be crispy and crunchy! So if you want to bake them a few minutes longer you can definitely do it. Bake up to 15 minutes for an even crunchier, crispier cookie.
Make them gluten-free: If you need to make a gluten-free version of these vegan Anzac biscuits then just switch out the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend in the same quantity. You’ll also want to ensure your rolled oats are certified gluten-free.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your biscuits stored in an airtight container at room temperature and the cookies will stay deliciously crunchy for at least a week. They are still good beyond a week but they tend to get softer. You can also store them in the fridge in an airtight container.
They are also freezer friendly for 3 months.
More Vegan Oatmeal Recipes
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Oatmeal Bars
- Vegan Granola Bars
- Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Anzac Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour (156g)
- 1 cup Rolled Oats (100g)
- 1 cup Dessicated Coconut (80g) finely shredded coconut
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- ⅔ cups Vegan Butter (150g)
- 4 Tbsp Golden Syrup
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- Add all purpose flour, rolled oats, dessicated coconut and light brown sugar to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add vegan butter to a saucepan along with golden syrup and heat over medium heat, stirring until melted.
- Add baking soda and stir in. It will foam up (this is normal) so just be careful.
- Immediately remove from the heat and pour it over the dry ingredients. Add in your vanilla extract and mix into a cookie dough.
- Break off pieces of the dough and form flat round cookie patties with your hands.
- Place them onto two parchment lined baking trays. Aim to get 20 cookies in total, placing 10 onto each tray.
- Bake for 12 minutes* until golden brown on top.
- Let them cool and firm up directly on the trays before moving.
Notes
- Dessicated coconut – is also called finely shredded coconut.
- Golden syrup – this is a caramel flavored syrup easily available in Australia, the UK and South Africa. It’s available on Amazon as well, and likely at certain stores in the US, but you can also swap this out for maple syrup, dark corn syrup or any table syrup.
- Bake them on two trays. I usually squash all my cookies onto one tray, but not this time! These cookies need space because they are supposed to be flat and crispy. So they just don’t fit well all on one tray. Spread them out over two trays. You can then bake them at the same time but rotate the trays partway through baking, or do what I do and bake them one batch at a time (no rotation of trays needed!).
- Bake time. We found 12 minutes to be perfect. However, they are supposed to be crispy and crunchy! So if you want to bake them a few minutes longer you can definitely do it. Bake up to 15 minutes for an even crunchier, crispier cookie.
- Make them gluten-free: If you need to make a gluten-free version of these vegan Anzac biscuits then just switch out the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend in the same quantity. You’ll also want to ensure your rolled oats are certified gluten-free.
- Storing and Freezing: Keep your biscuits stored in an airtight container at room temperature and the cookies will stay deliciously crunchy for at least a week. They are still good beyond a week but they tend to get softer. You can also store them in the fridge in an airtight container. They are also freezer friendly for 3 months.
Hi, firstly, let me say I use your recipes all the time. Your carrot cake is my favourite. We baked these cookies, using syrup and vegan butter. It did not really turn into a dough, it was quite crumbly. I did add more melted butter. What would cause this? Is margarine a better option? I will let you know how they turn out though.
Hi Martine, it won’t make any difference if you’re using vegan butter vs margarine. However, if you needed to add more melted butter then my first guess would be accidentally using a bit too much flour. If you were able to form them into cookie balls with your hands after adding more melted butter then I think they should turn out well. All the best!
Loved this recipe, so delicious. I will make it again.
So these are ridiculously tasty! I spaced mine out to about 8-9 a tray and shaped them into cookie shapes but was kinda surprised with how much they spread… I had to cut them away from one another when I took them out of the oven but they were still delicious. I wonder though if it was the vegan butter I used (nuttelex) as where I live I cannot find any vegan stick butters (which seem to be much harder butters than the ones I can get). But, regardless of the spreading, I will definitely make these again and just leave more room for each cookie 🙂
Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Sarah! So happy they were tasty! I actually love Nuttelex as a brand and have used it in the past so I don’t think that would be it. These cookies do tend to spread quite a bit and get a bit thin and crispy, so it’s ideal to bake them over two trays (but still bake them one tray at a time). Thanks so much for the wonderful review!
Great recipe! I made these this afternoon for my husband who’d never had homemade ones and they were a hit. Simple and delicious.
Awesome Emily! Thanks for the wonderful review.
Thanks for the recipe! I’m excited to cook these but I’m never sure what to do with your oven temperatures – I only have fan-forced and grill options on my oven. Should I cook at 160 degrees? Thanks 😀
Hi Charlie, yes if it’s fan forced then it would be 160°C.
Just love this recipe! Easily converted to gluten free and I made them a bit more crunchy as that’s the best for me. Scrumptious!
Hi Anna, that’s awesome! Yes, this recipe does convert to gluten free very well! Thanks for the great review!
These are sooooo good. I used maple syrup. I like crunchy cookies so baked for 15 minutes and on 360F as my oven tends to run on lower temperature than it should. Found the end result to be yummy but after they cooled and sat around they were very hard and, being seniors, my husband and I decided we couldn’t risk damaging our teeth (yes they were that hard). Yet we couldn’t throw them out as they tasted so good. On thinking about it I decided to crush them up between wax paper using a rolling pin so they turned into large crumb like bits. Then sprinkled them over coconut frozen dessert. Oh so tasty. Definitely making again but baking less and on lower temperature!
Hi Susan, oh haha, yes they are crunchy! Definitely bake a few minutes less next time to be a little softer. So glad you still managed to enjoy them!
Thank you for a yummy recipe. I have not made them yet, but will be this coming Sabbath. Can I substitute honey or Agave syrup for golden syrup. Also can I use wholemeal flour?
Hi Jacqui, yes to honey or agave but I’m not sure about wholemeal flour, you probably can use it, but I haven’t tested that. All the best!
Just made them (gluten free) and they are wonderful. Even tho I accidentally doubled the baking soda. I added it to the flour mix and then remembered it was supposed to go in the syrup mix so I added it again. They are still wonderful.
I can hardly wait to see how good they are when I do it properly.
So happy to hear they were a success Gail! Thanks so much for sharing!