This old school style Oat Fruit Slice goes down brilliantly with your favourite tea or coffee so grab that book you’ve been meaning to read!
ANZAC biscuit that wasn’t
Every year on the 25th of April on ANZAC Day, we commemorate the spirit, heroism and sacrifice of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC’s) who served in the Gallipoli campaign during WW1. This later became a day to honour all veterans of all Australian & New Zealand military branches who served in the wars and conflicts that followed.
As a long going tradition, Australians would make ANZAC biscuits to honour this day.
Soldiers’ wives made and sent ANZAC biscuits abroad to their husbands during the war. It was made using pantry staples with no eggs so it wouldn’t spoil for months.
The use of ‘ANZAC’ and ‘ANZAC Biscuits’ is legally protected. Fines can be issued to cafes or bakeries for selling ANZAC biscuits that don’t honour the original recipes. The Australian War Memorial has 3 traditional ANZAC biscuits listed on their website.
To honour ANZAC day I am posting my Oat Fruit Slice which tastes similar to ANZAC biscuits as it uses similar ingredients as both have oats and desiccated coconut.
These delicious Oat Fruit Slices are super simple and quick to make, it makes a perfect treat to have along with your favourite cup of tea or coffee.
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Memories! memories!
Every time I make a batch of Oat Fruit slice I get hit with nostalgia because Oat Fruit Slice was the first thing I have ever baked all by myself at the tender age of 25. Haha, just joking! I was in year 4 so I would have been around 8 years old. Our Home Economics teacher actually called it ‘Oaty fruit slice’.
I don’t think Oaty fruit slices meet the healthy criteria at schools anymore. It’s not that bad for you but it’s not that super healthy either because it’s made with lots of butter and sugar. There are 2 cups of rolled oats in each batch so that should make it somewhat healthy…… Ok who am I fooling with this, that’s like me saying that fried bananas with ice cream are healthy as it has bananas!
I kept the original recipe as my dad loved these slices so much and because they’re very tasty. My recipe was written in block letters by a pencil on a scrappy book. I feel old, do they even use pencils or books at schools anymore?
Speaking of which I get really annoyed by the ever-changing products that we once loved. I went to buy mixed dried fruits to make this recipe and found that the mixed fruits only contained two or three different variety of fruits. When I was a kid, a large bag of mixed fruits was so cheap and it had plenty of variety of mixed fruits in it. The small box I bought recently had 2 or 3 glace cherries inside and it wasn’t cheap. I probably sound like a nagging old bat!
Ingredients for Oat Fruit Slice
Rolled oats (Old fashioned oats) are steamed oat groats that have been lightly processed and flattened.
Mixed dried fruits usually have sultanas, currants, raisins, glace cherries, orange and lemon peel mixed in a packet. Don’t worry if you can’t find a packet of mixed fruits as you can make your own or even use just sultanas, it’ll still be delicious!
Plain flour is also known as ‘all-purpose’ flour, it has no leavening agent added.
Desiccated coconut is unsweetened dried coconut that has been shredded to a fine consistency.
How to make Oat Fruit Slice
Step by step guide with photos
Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F) or 180°C (360°F) for fan-forced ovens. Line and grease a 20cm (8 in) square tin with nonstick baking paper.
In a large bowl add in flour, oats, dried fruits, coconut, baking powder and salt. Mix well to combine.
In a small saucepan add in the butter, sugar and honey. Cook and stir on low to medium heat until the butter have melted and the sugar has completely dissolved. The mixture will look a little frothy.
Make a well in the centre of the dried ingredients and carefully pour the hot mixture in, stir to combine making sure there are no dry bits remaining. The mixture should be quite sticky.
Time to bake
Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and use a spatula to flatten the mixture evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into slices. If the slice is stuck to the tin, carefully run a thin knife between the edges of the tin and the slice.
Leftovers can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
For more delicious Australian recipes check out LAMINGTON CAKE or the snack that we all love to eat AUSSIE BEEF PIE.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
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Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Oat Fruit Slice
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats (NOTE 1)
- 1 cup plain flour (NOTE 2)
- ½ cup desiccated coconut (NOTE 3)
- 1 cup mixed dried fruits (NOTE 4)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- large pinch of salt
- 100 gm unsalted butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F) or 180°C (360°F) for fan-forced ovens. Line and grease a 20cm (8 in) square tin with nonstick baking paper.
- In a large bowl add in flour, oats, dried fruits, coconut, baking powder and salt. Mix well to combine.
- In a small saucepan add in the butter, sugar and honey. Cook and stir on low to medium heat until the butter have melted and the sugar has completely dissolved. The mixture will look a little frothy.
- Make a well in the centre of the dried ingredients and carefully pour the hot mixture in, stir to combine making sure there are no dry bits remaining. The mixture should be quite sticky.
- Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and use a spatula to flatten the mixture evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into slices. If the slice is stuck to the tin, carefully run a thin knife between the edges of the tin and the slice.
