Melting Moments and Chocolate Lace Crisps

Over the weekend I baked some melting moments and chocolate lace crisps to give away as birthday presents for my friends. It’s always hard to think of what to get someone for their birthday so I am going to be giving baked goods as birthday presents more often….it’s the thought that counts afterall and any sweet, rich baked good is sure to put a smile on someone’s face.

Melting moments are shortbread-like cookies which contain a lot of butter for its rich flavour and have a fine, crumbly texture. They are called melting moments because that’s what they do – they literally melt in your mouth when you eat them. What gives them this soft texture is the use of cornflour. You’ll see jars of these cookies at cafes because they go really well with tea or coffee.


The melting moments I made contained a sweet lemony filling.


Melting Moments

(Recipe from Joy of Baking)


Ingredients
• 225g butter, softened
• 30g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 60g cornflour, sifted
• 195g plain flour, sifted
• ¼ teaspoon salt


Method
Preheat oven to 170C.  Line baking trays with greaseproof paper.


Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Then add in the cornflour, plain flour and salt, and mix together until combined.


Use hands to bring the mixture together in the bowl into a soft doughy texture. Then roll the mixture into small balls (around 2.5cm in diameter) and place them onto the baking trays 3 cm apart. Use a fork to press into the surface of the balls to flatten them and form discs.

Bake for around 12 minutes or until golden. Allow the melting moments to cool and them sandwich with a cream filling.


Lemony filling


Ingredients
• 75g butter, softened
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest


Beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy.


I also made some chocolate lace crisps, the recipe was from a Women’s Weekly baking book that I received for my birthday a few years ago.


Chocolate Lace Crisps

Ingredients
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped coarsely
• 80g butter, chopped
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup plain flour, sifted
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup icing sugar, sifted


Method


Melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat and set aside to cool.


Stir in caster sugar, egg, flour, cocoa power and baking powder into the chocolate/butter mixture. Cover and refrigerate for around 15 minutes or until the mixture is firm enough to handle.


Preheat oven to 170C and line baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Roll level tablespoons of the mixture into balls and roll each ball in icing sugar. Place the balls on the trays 4-5 cm apart and bake for around 12 minutes. 


The recipe specified 15 minutes for the baking time but I always like to undercook my biscuits a little and then let them cool on the baking trays as the residual heat on the baking trays will continue to cook the biscuits. I like my biscuits to have a softer texture and not be too hard.