Sugar For Anzac Cookies | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

Our answer

Nigella's Seed-Studded Anzac Biscuits (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) are coconut and oat cookies studded with a mixture of pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds. The cookies contain a combination of light brown sugar and golden syrup (or corn syrup). The combination helps to give the cookies structure with a slightly chewy texture.

The golden syrup can be substituted and you could use (liquid/runny) honey or agave syrup. But we would mention that honey can have quite an assertive taste when used in cooking, so try to use a very mild-flavoured honey and we would mention that the cookies will not taste exactly the same. Unfortunately we would not recommend replacing all of the sugar with agave or maple syrup as we think this may make the cookies too soft. Syrups have a higher water content than granulated sugars, so this will affect the texture of the cookie, plus the syrups mentioned are all invert sugars and tend to make baked goods soft, as they attract moisture. So using all syrup will make the cookies very chewy and they may not hold together as well. You may be able to use a little more syrup and a little less sugar, but as we have not tried changing the proportions we are unable to advise on how much can be substitutes.