Melting Moments

Shortbread biscuits sandwiched with lemon icing. Melting Moments are a timeless Australian cafe favorite! True to their title, they actually “soften” in your mouth. They’re delectable!

Melting Moments – flashback!

I’m fairly positive Melting Moments is among the first baked items I ever tried to make. The recipe from the Ladies’s Weekly “Finest Ever Recipes” cookbook revealed again within the 1970’s or 1980’s which, to at the present time, remains to be my all time favorite cookbook. It holds such sentimental worth, being the very first cookbook I ever owned. (Truly, “owned” is a little bit of a free time period given I stole it from my mom. 😂)

Women's Weekly Best Ever Recipes cookbook

The recipe I take advantage of in the present day relies on the unique Melting Moments recipe from this cookbook, although the ingredient portions and mixing technique has been barely tweaked for what I feel is a greater “soften in your mouth” texture.

Additionally, the unique recipe known as for star formed biscuits to be half dipped in chocolate then sandwiched with orange buttercream frosting, as pictured above. Today the favored cafe selection is apparent biscuits joined with lemon frosting which is what I’m sharing in the present day.

Freshly baked Melting moments — Shortbread biscuits

Making Melting Moments — Shortbread biscuits

Substances in Melting Moments

Melting Moments are shortbread cookies joined along with lemon buttercream frosting. Whereas some recipes name for custard powder to make the cookies extra yellow, I personally want the flavour with out imitation custard flavour. 🙂

The cookies

Flour – Simply plain / all-purpose flour.
Cornflour / cornstarch – That is what provides shortbread cookies the signature comfortable “crumbly” texture.
Icing sugar (comfortable) / powdered sugar – That is the sweetener for melting moments which provides the cookies the signature shortbread cookie texture (bizarre sugar makes them more durable).

⚠️ Australia – Get packets labelled “SOFT icing sugar” or “icing sugar combination” not pure icing sugar (packet labelled as such). Delicate icing sugar is sugar blended with cornflour/cornstarch, tapioca that’s used for fluffy frostings. Pure icing sugar (packet labelled as such) is made with 100% sugar solely and is used for icing that units onerous, like royal icing.
Unsalted butter – Softened to room temperature which is (technically!) 17°C / 63°F. Don’t let the butter soften an excessive amount of else the dough is a bit more tough to roll into balls.
Vanilla extract – For flavour. Extract is best than imitation essence. I wouldn’t use vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste for this goal – it’s a waste!

lemon ICING

Older-style recipes, equivalent to the unique Ladies’s Weekly recipe, tended to make use of icings which aren’t as creamy however firmer and a bit crumbly. Today, the cafe variations use buttercream frosting which is comfortable, creamy and fluffy, with the most typical being lemon flavoured. In order that’s what I take advantage of in my recipe. Nonetheless, I’m additionally together with a passionfruit model too!

Unsalted butter – Softened to room temperature so it may be whipped right into a fluffy frosting.
Delicate icing sugar / powdered sugar – As famous above, be sure you get comfortable icing sugar! In case you use pure icing sugar the frosting won’t be comfortable and fluffy, it units onerous.
Lemon – Each zest and lemon juice.

For a passionfruit frosting, you will want passionfruit pulp (recent, not canned, it’s too candy) plus a little bit of lemon to steadiness out the flavours.

Passionfruit Melting Moments — The recipe additionally features a passionfruit icing model!

Find out how to make melting moments

Cream butter – Place butter, vanilla and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat for 1 minute till easy and fluffy, beginning on low velocity to keep away from an icing sugar cloud-storm.
Stir in dry in 3 heaps – Add 1/3 of the cornflour and flour, then stir it in with a rubber spatula. As soon as the flour is included, add half the remaining cornflour and flour, stir in, then repeat. The combination is a a bit of softer than common cookie dough, but it surely shouldn’t be pourable.

Scoop 1 tablespoon of the combination onto the trays – 28 mounds in whole. A cookie scoop with a lever is useful right here!
Roll – Then roll into balls utilizing calmly floured palms to stop the dough from sticking. As talked about above, this dough is a bit of softer that typical cookie dough.

Flatten with fork – Use a fork dipped in flour to press the balls right down to 1 cm / 0.4″ thickness.
Bake for quarter-hour in a 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan-forced) oven, switching the tray cabinets and rotating on the 10 minute mark. The cookies must be very pale golden, not browned.

Absolutely cool on the trays.
Lemon icing – In the meantime, make the lemon icing. Beat the butter first till creamy, then steadily add the icing sugar, beginning on low with the hand-held beater to keep away from a snow-storm. Add the lemon zest and juice, then beat on excessive for two minutes to make the frosting good and fluffy!

Sandwich the melting moments collectively with lemon frosting. A piping bag makes brief work on this in addition to making the sides of the icing good and tidy, however you could possibly simply unfold with a spoon or knife.
Refrigerate 1 hour – You possibly can eat the cookies immediately however the frosting can be a bit of comfortable so it squirts out if you chunk into the cookies. So to scale back squirt-age, I wish to refrigerate the melting moments for 1 hour to set the frosting. Then deliver to room temperature earlier than consuming which softens the frosting once more, but it surely’s nonetheless not as comfortable as when freshly made so it received’t squirt out as a lot.

(I actually by no means thought I’d use the phrase “squirt” a lot in a single paragraph. What has turn into of me?? 😂)

Why selfmade tastes higher

Make these for afternoon tea, for a bake sale, for ebook membership with your pals. Or, simply because selfmade Melting Moments actually are that significantly better than mass-produced retailer purchased ones. Sure, I actually did purchase some so I might inform you that the cookies aren’t as “soften in your mouth” and the frosting is often dried out fairly than creamy inside.

However the factor that bothers me essentially the most is that many retailer purchased cookies aren’t made with butter however as an alternative use more economical fats choices like vegetable shortening which haven’t any flavour. Butter is what makes these so good!!

I hope you get an opportunity to make these certainly one of today. They are surely particular! – Nagi x