Anzac yoyos

I love the simplicity of a good Anzac biscuit. Oats and coconut, wholesome... almost healthy (except for the sugar which I'm choosing to ignore!). What I don't like about Anzacs are their tendency to spread out and be a bit thin. I'm not a thin biscuit fan.

So I decided to give my recipe a bit of an overhaul and use my favourite method for getting thick biscuits/cookies that stay nicely shaped and don't spread out... refrigerating the dough (which meant subbing raising agents, but I won't bore you with the technicalities). The result was fantastic! These Anzacs are beautifully thick, nicely risen, round and most importantly delicious. And in my humble (chocolate-obsessed) opinion, the addition of the dark chocolate ganache filling elevates them to the next level.

Try this:

Ingredients - biscuits

100gm castor sugar

40gm brown sugar

50gm jumbo oats (I like these for texture)

50gm rolled oats (or just use 100gm rolled oats if that's all you have)

100gm coconut thread

40gm sunflower seeds

190gm plain flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

160gm butter

50gm golden syrup

3 tbsp water

Method - biscuits

Makes about 20 small sandwich cookies. Combine the sugars, oats, coconut, seeds, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, mixing well to combine.

In a small pot combine the butter, golden syrup and water and heat until all the butter is melted. Pour into the oat mixture and stir until all the dry flour has disappeared.

Cover the mix and refrigerate it for at least two hours, until it is hard and cold. This makes the biscuit dough easier to roll, and means your biscuits will rise and hold their shape, instead of spreading out flat on the tray.

Heat oven to 175c. Line a flat tray with baking paper. Take teaspoons of the cold biscuit dough and roll into even little balls (about the width of a $2 coin), placing them on the baking tray with a bit of space between them. Bake for 9 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Keep going until all the mixture is used up, and all of the biscuits are baked. When they are all completely cool, they are ready to fill.

Ingredients - ganache

100ml cream

200gm dark chocolate (I use Whittakers 70%), chopped roughly

1 Tbsp butter

2 tsps of rum/whiskey/port or sherry (optional)

Method - ganache

Heat the cream in a small pot until it is just beginning to boil. Take it off the heat and add the chocolate and the butter. Leave to stand for 5 minutes. Whisk together to incorporate the ingredients until you have a thick silky ganache. Add the alcohol, if you like (it's optional), and stir in well. Add the ganache to a piping bag if you have one, or just cover with a tea towel, leaving it to cool until it's firmer and ready to pipe or spread. Dollop half of the biscuits with ganache and then gently sandwich together with the rest of the biscuits, and eat! They keep for a few days in an airtight container.