A short history of the Cranzac universe. In pictures.

They began by accident. Created because I was baking Anzac biscuits for the kids and happened to have some cranberries left over. In they went and the result was, in a word, unbelievably delicious (yes, that's two words, but let's not lose focus here).


A discussion in the office about the resulting 'Cranzac' biscuit developed quickly from 'we should sell these and raise money for the RSA' to calling Reese at Thorndon New World in Wellington to see if he'd get on board and support the project. And oh my stars, did he ever.

He loved the biscuit, he loved the idea and he even loved the sticker I designed with - in the absence of any need to share credit - my own face under my own name in the middle of it.



So we tinkered a little with baking times and quantities, given the humungous, industrial ovens that they cook with and in a day or two had come up with what was a bloody good biscuit - true to the recipe that I'd accidentally created a week earlier.


Then Reese and his team figured out nutritional information, worked out a price, created a code, and started on production. This was a shade over two weeks out from Anzac Day.

He called me on the eve of their first day of sale to say he'd made 600 packets of Cranzacs. At which point my dodgy heart nearly gave out. I suffered an immediate puckering of the sphincter and shortness of breath. Honestly? I'd thought we might sell a hundred. Maybe one-fifty. But 600 packets?

I imagined half of them going stale post Anzac Day or being heaved into a 'half price' bin.

As I write this we are just over a week in with just under a week to go until Anzac Day - our national day of remembrance. My Cranzacs have gone much better than anyone could have imagined. 1200 packets sold to date.



Read that number again. 1200. Thats 6000 biscuits. With five sales days to go. Already this has been so successful that we're talking about how far and wide to take it next year and I've applied to trademark the name and protect the recipe.

So. If you haven't already - go get some. You have five days left. Proceeds after expenses go to the Wellington RSA.

Kudos to Reese and his team, working round the clock to make the delicious, cranberry-packed treats.
Just quietly, I'm mega-stoked.

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