ANZAC day is a day for making ANZAC biscuits and remembering our Poppas and Nannas. How great it would be if they were still here.

I could ask Jack what he thought of our Fig Leaf and Rose tea.

My Barmera Poppa Jeff was the baker, he would make the biscuits.

Barmera Nanna would make her famous scrambled eggs and Margie, Monash Nanna would let us dress up in her extraordinary hat collection. 

This is our family ANZAC biscuit recipe, created by Auntie Rene, preserved by Auntie Joy and dabbled with by me.

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oat

1 cup sugar

1 cup shredded coconut

125 g butter

1 tblspn sticky quince syrup

1 tblspn golden syrup

2 tblspn water

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

Set your oven at 175 degrees Celsius.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the sugar, rolled oats and coconut.

In a saucepan add the butter, syrup and water and bring to boil.

Stir in the bicarb soda and then take off the heat.

Add in the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

Put teaspoons of mixture onto 2 greased trays (you need to allow space for the mixture to spread) and bake at 175C for approx 10 - 12 minutes.

Biscuits will harden when cool. Watch them, I did nearly burn them.

Makes 30 biscuits.

This recipe came straight from fig bars I saw on Instagram by Sophie Ella. I have changed up the ingredients and the balance of sweet & salty.

My goodness they are good (and super quick to make) and a fantastic protein snack to get you through the day.

PS this makes a serious amount of balls approx 60 so by all means half the recipe, use them to make up Christmas presents (or do as I did freeze them in an air tight container so you always have a protein snack on hand).

Fruit and Almond Protein Balls

Ingredients

600g Almond butter (I used my local The Almond Farmer)

9 tbspn Sticky Quince Syrup

Approx 200g of mixed dried fruit (I used 17 figs, 2 pears, 4 peaches, 5 apricots) that is roughly chopped or put through your blender. I did make my fruit quite minced, you can choose to make it chunky or minced.

3 pinches of salt

2 tbspn of monkfruit sweetener, salted caramel flavour (this is completely optional I just had a craving at the time)

8 tbspn almond meal

Approx 400g Melted dark chocolate to dip your balls into

Toppings - shredded coconut, salt flakes (optional)

Method 

In a saucepan, over low heat, mix together the almond butter, sticky quince syrup and salt until smooth.

Once mixed through turn the heat off and add your chopped/minced fruit, almond meal and monkfruit sweetener (if using). Mix thoroughly

Roll the mixture into bite size balls and put in the fridge while you melt your chocolate. 

Your chocolate can be melted in a small saucepan over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave on very low heat (and stirring every 30 secs) you don't want the chocolate to get too hot and burn before it actually gets to melt.

Use a fork to then dip each ball into your melted chocolate. Top with coconut or salt flakes before the chocolate completely sets (optional).

Keep stored in an air tight container (and in the fridge if the temp is getting hot or humid). This makes a very big batch which I portioned out and froze some so there was always some protein snacks on hand when we need them. Or you could package them up for Christmas presents.

You can make a nut free version of these simply by upping the amount of mixed dried fruit to approx 800g in total and not using any almond butter or meal.