Nan Still The Gout Gout Of ANZAC Biccies

VICKI DERWENT | Lifestyle | CONTACT

Local Betoota Nan, Shirley Renson, has proved yet again she is the absolute best of the best when it comes to baking up the highest quality ANZAC biscuits. 

The sweet biscuits that were made popular in World War 1 due to their long lasting nature and affordable ingredients have found their way back onto supermarket shelves this ANZAC day but they just don’t taste the same as Nans. 

Shirley has been making them for years, still following a heavily stained recipe written out on an envelope that looks like it may have been sent to Gallipoli and back. 

“The trick is to add a shit load of butter. People think they’re healthy because they got oats in em’ but they couldn’t be more wrong. They had to send them to the troops to get those boys fatter.”

Shirley’s children and grandchildren receive a Peters ice cream container of biccies each year. It is generally acknowledged that she is the Gout Gout, or Shane Warne, of ANZAC biccies.

“I like them because they don’t seem as unhealthy as the usual choc chip cookie, they’ve got oats in them so, you know” Shirley’s daughter, Rosie naively told our reporter. 

“Nan just makes them better than everyone else.” 

In the ANZAC spirit, Shirley even sends off her ANZAC biscuits to family members in different states. Shirley’s grandson was shocked at first at the parcel he received a couple days before the public holiday. 

“At first I was like, Nan I can’t eat these, they’ve been in transit for like 2 weeks that’s yuck as but then I realised like these would have lasted months or some shit back in the war so I went for a run and then ate one when I was out of breath and it kinda took me back… Took me back to the trenches.” 

Shirley refused to tell the Advocate her family recipe but was happy to offer one piece of advice. 

“For gods sake don’t leave them in the oven too long, if you do you’ll be eating cardboard and losing your molars.”