Australian Bakery Treats: Lamingtons and ANZACs

Australians love their baked goods as much as they love their wine, but there's also a bit of history that goes into many of these treats. Lamingtons, for example, are named after Lord Lamington, who was the Governor of Queensland at the turn of the 20^th century. The tale that has been passed along was that an elegant dessert was quickly needed and the only cake available was stale sponge cake. It was "dressed up" with chocolate and coconut. The old baked good suddenly became an elegant treat!

ANZAC biscuits are another popular Aussie treat that also come with a story. These sweet cookies became popular during the First World War, when there was a shortage of eggs in Australia. Bakers needed to make a cookie that would survive travel - without eggs. These cookies not only solved the need, but they were so delicious the folks Down Under decided to claim them. ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.

Lamingtons

Cake
6 ounces margarine or butter
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups self rising flour
1-1/2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing
3 cups of confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Shredded Coconut

To make the cake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and line the bottom of a shallow rectangular baking dish.
Mix dry ingredients together for five minutes before adding additional ingredients.
Pour well-mixed batter into prepared baking dish.
Cook cake in oven for 30 minutes.
Cool Cake before cutting into squares.
Store squares of cake in the freezer overnight.

To make icing, sift sugar and cocoa into a double boiler.
Add water and vanilla and stir until smooth. (Add more water if necessary as icing should be thin.)

Assemble Lamingtons
Scatter a thick layer of coconut on greaseproof paper.
Stick each square of cake with a fork and dip into the icing.
After icing sets, roll cake in coconut.
Place cakes on wire rack to dry.

ANZAC Biscuits

4 ounces of butter or margarine
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon golden syrup
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 cup white flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Grease and line a large cookie sheet.
In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut, sugar, oats, flour and coconut. Set aside.
Melt butter in a saucepan and blend in syrup and water over low heat.
Remove pan from heat and add baking soda.
Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients and mix well.
Drop spoonfuls of mixture on cookie sheet, with space in between each as cookies will spread.
Place in oven until biscuits are brown, about 20 minutes.
Cool and store in an airtight container.