Coconut Oat Cookies (Anzac Biscuits)
These Anzac biscuits are golden, chewy coconut oat cookies with crisp edges, a soft center, and plenty of texture from rolled oats and desiccated coconut. They’re simple to make, use everyday baking ingredients, and have that wonderfully comforting homemade-cookie quality.
Just like my low carb gingersnaps, these are perfect to feature on your holiday dessert spread or just make and store to enjoy a sweet treat whenever you're craving one.
I love batch-making essentials over the weekend. When the weather gets colder, I always make a huge portion of my homemade gingerbread granola and candied brown sugar walnuts and store them in airtight containers to snack on whenever I want to.
This time, I wanted to make some simple cookies- something that weren't too complicated, but still needed that bit of deep, caramel-like flavor. And that's when I made these cookies.
Quick Look: Coconut Oat Cookies
- 🔪 Prep time: 10 minutes
- 🔥 Cook time: 12–14 minutes
- ⏱️ Cooling time: 10 minutes
- 🍪 Yield: About 12 cookies
- 🥣 Main ingredients: Rolled oats, flour, coconut, brown sugar, butter, and syrup
- 🧑🍳 Cooking method: Mix dry ingredients → melt butter and syrup → combine → shape → bake → cool
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy
- ☕ Best served: With coffee, tea, or as an afternoon snack- like my gluten free seed crackers.
Jump to recipe
Why This Recipe
- These cookies have a delicious combination of oats and coconut. Rolled oats give the biscuits a hearty texture and coconut adds chewiness and a subtle tropical flavor.
- Making these cookies is super easy. You don't require a mixer or complicated cookie-making techniques- just like with my homemade vanilla wafers.
- You can easily customize them with chocolate chips or nuts. They're especially good with a cup of coffee or tea.
Recipe Ingredients
Flour + oats: Forms the structure of the cookie dough and adds that hearty texture.
Desiccated coconut: Adds coconut flavor and a pleasant chewy texture. Choose unsweetened coconut, and use leftovers to make coconut cashews.
Sugar: To add sweetness, moisture, and that caramel-like flavor. I used a mix of granulated sugar and light brown sugar here.
Unsalted butter: Provides richness and helps bring the dough together.
Light corn syrup: Adds sweetness and helps give the biscuits their chewy texture.
Baking soda: Helps the biscuits spread and brown as they bake.
Substitutions & Variations
- Use golden syrup in place of light corn syrup if you have it available.
- Add chocolate chips to make a chocolatey version, or stir in chopped pecans or walnuts into the dough for extra crunch. I love roughly chopping up candied almonds and using them here.
How to Make Anzac Biscuits
Step 1: Melt the butter, add corn syrup and baking soda in a saucepan over medium heat.
Step 2: Add dry ingredients and stir.
Step 3: Mix with a spatula until combined. add 1 -2 tablespoon water if needed. Take off heat and let the mixture cool slightly.
Step 4: Shape cookie dough into balls and press down on them slightly to flatten them.
Step 5: Bake for 12-15 minutes in an oven preheated at 350°F, or until the cookies turn light golden brown. Let them cool completely before serving.
Tips and Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Make sure the butter is fully melted but not extremely hot when combining the ingredients.
- Stir the dry ingredients together thoroughly so the sugars, oats, flour, and coconut are evenly distributed. Add water gradually and only if the dough needs it.
- Don't overcrowd the baking sheet- leave about an inch between the dough balls. I always do this when I make almond Florentines too.
How to Serve Anzac Biscuits
These biscuits are perfect with a cup of coffee or tea for an afternoon snack. They also make a lovely addition to a cookie platter or lunchbox, alongside black forest cookies and a nice pecan pie dip with crackers.
For an extra treat, serve them slightly warm with a glass of cold milk or my coconut milk iced latte, or pair them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an easy dessert.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Allow the biscuits to cool completely before transferring them to an airtight container. Store them at room temperature and enjoy within several days for the best texture.
Make sure your melted butter mixture isn't extremely hot when you combine it with the dry ingredients. Also, check that you measured the ingredients accurately.
The recipe allows for 1–2 tablespoons of water to help bring the dough together. Add it gradually rather than adding the full amount immediately.
More Easy Cookies & Sweet Bites
If you tried this coconut oat cookies recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Coconut Oat Cookies (Anzac Biscuits)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, flour, coconut, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter.
- Add the light corn syrup and baking soda. Once the mixture foams, remove it from the heat.
- Add the dry ingredients to the saucepan and mix with a spatula until combined.
- If the dough seems too dry, gradually add 1–2 tablespoons of water until it becomes easy to shape.
- Scoop out portions of dough and roll them into balls.
- Lightly flatten each ball and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 12–14 minutes.
- Let the biscuits cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Add the water gradually and only as needed; you may not need the full amount.
- The biscuits will firm up as they cool.
- Make sure the melted butter isn't extremely hot when combining it with the dry ingredients.
- Chocolate chips or chopped nuts can be added for variation.
- Golden syrup can be used in place of light corn syrup for a more traditional Anzac-style flavor.
- Store cooled biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature.
