Shortbread biscuits sandwiched with lemon icing. Melting Moments are a timeless Australian cafe favourite! True to their name, they literally “melt” in your mouth. They are delectable!
Melting Moments – flashback!
I am pretty sure Melting Moments is one of the first baked goods I ever attempted to make. The recipe from the Women’s Weekly “Best Ever Recipes” cookbook published back in the 1970’s or 1980’s which, to this day, is still my all time favourite cookbook. It holds such sentimental value, being the very first cookbook I ever owned. (Actually, “owned” is a bit of a loose term given I stole it from my mother. 😂)
The recipe I use today is based on the original Melting Moments recipe from this cookbook, though the ingredient quantities and mixing method has been slightly tweaked for what I think is a better “melt in your mouth” texture.
Also, the original recipe called for star shaped biscuits to be half dipped in chocolate then sandwiched with orange buttercream frosting, as pictured above. These days the popular cafe variety is plain biscuits joined with lemon frosting which is what I’m sharing today.
Ingredients in Melting Moments
Melting Moments are shortbread cookies joined together with lemon buttercream frosting. While some recipes call for custard powder to make the cookies more yellow, I personally prefer the flavour without imitation custard flavour. 🙂
The cookies
Flour – Just plain / all-purpose flour.
Cornflour / cornstarch – This is what gives shortbread cookies the signature soft “crumbly” texture.
Icing sugar (soft) / powdered sugar – This is the sweetener for melting moments which gives the cookies the signature shortbread cookie texture (ordinary sugar makes them harder).
⚠️ Australia – Get packets labelled “SOFT icing sugar” or “icing sugar mixture” not pure icing sugar (packet labelled as such). Soft icing sugar is sugar mixed with cornflour/cornstarch, tapioca that is used for fluffy frostings. Pure icing sugar (packet labelled as such) is made with 100% sugar only and is used for icing that sets hard, like royal icing.
Unsalted butter – Softened to room temperature which is (technically!) 17°C / 63°F. Don’t let the butter soften too much else the dough is a little more tricky to roll into balls.
Vanilla extract – For flavour. Extract is better than imitation essence. I wouldn’t use vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste for this purpose – it’s a waste!
lemon ICING
Older-style recipes, such as the original Women’s Weekly recipe, tended to use icings which are not as creamy but firmer and a bit crumbly. These days, the cafe versions use buttercream frosting which is soft, creamy and fluffy, with the most common being lemon flavoured. So that’s what I use in my recipe. However, I’m also including a passionfruit version too!
Unsalted butter – Softened to room temperature so it can be whipped into a fluffy frosting.
Soft icing sugar / powdered sugar – As noted above, be sure to get soft icing sugar! If you use pure icing sugar the frosting will not be soft and fluffy, it sets hard.
Lemon – Both zest and lemon juice.
For a passionfruit frosting, you will need passionfruit pulp (fresh, not canned, it’s too sweet) plus a bit of lemon to balance out the flavours.
How to make melting moments
Cream butter – Place butter, vanilla and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat for 1 minute until smooth and fluffy, starting on low speed to avoid an icing sugar cloud-storm.
Stir in dry in 3 lots – Add 1/3 of the cornflour and flour, then stir it in with a rubber spatula. Once the flour is incorporated, add half the remaining cornflour and flour, stir in, then repeat. The mixture is a a little softer than usual cookie dough, but it shouldn’t be pourable.
Scoop 1 tablespoon of the mixture onto the trays – 28 mounds in total. A cookie scoop with a lever is handy here!
Roll – Then roll into balls using lightly floured hands to prevent the dough from sticking. As mentioned above, this dough is a little softer that typical cookie dough.
Flatten with fork – Use a fork dipped in flour to press the balls down to 1 cm / 0.4″ thickness.
Bake for 15 minutes in a 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan-forced) oven, switching the tray shelves and rotating at the 10 minute mark. The cookies should be very pale golden, not browned.
Fully cool on the trays.
Lemon icing – Meanwhile, make the lemon icing. Beat the butter first until creamy, then gradually add the icing sugar, starting on low with the handheld beater to avoid a snow-storm. Add the lemon zest and juice, then beat on high for 2 minutes to make the frosting nice and fluffy!
Sandwich the melting moments together with lemon frosting. A piping bag makes short work on this as well as making the edges of the icing nice and tidy, but you could just spread with a spoon or knife.
Refrigerate 1 hour – You can eat the cookies straight away but the frosting will be a little soft so it squirts out when you bite into the cookies. So to reduce squirt-age, I like to refrigerate the melting moments for 1 hour to set the frosting. Then bring to room temperature before eating which softens the frosting again, but it’s still not as soft as when freshly made so it won’t squirt out as much.
(I really never thought I’d use the word “squirt” so much in one paragraph. What has become of me?? 😂)
Why homemade tastes better
Make these for afternoon tea, for a bake sale, for book club with your friends. Or, just because homemade Melting Moments really are that much better than mass-produced store bought ones. Yes, I really did buy some so I could tell you that the cookies aren’t as “melt in your mouth” and the frosting is usually dried out rather than creamy inside.
But the thing that bothers me the most is that many store bought cookies aren’t made with butter but instead use more cost effective fat options like vegetable shortening which have no flavour. Butter is what makes these so good!!
I hope you get a chance to make these one of these days. They really are special! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Melting Moments
Ingredients
Melting moments:
- 250g (2 sticks + 1 tbsp) unsalted butter , softened (Note 1)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted (not PURE icing sugar, Note 2)
- 1 1/2 cups plain / all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornflour / cornstarch
Lemon icing:
- 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
- 2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted (not PURE icing sugar, Note 2)
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Passionfruit icing:
- 80g / 6 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
- 2 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted (not PURE icing sugar, Note 2)
- 4 tbsp fresh passionfruit pulp , (not canned, too sweet)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan-forced). Line 2 trays with paper.
- Cream butter – Place butter, vanilla and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat for 1 minute until smooth and fluffy (start on low to avoid an icing sugar cloud-storm).
- Dry in 3 lots – Stir in cornflour and flour in 3 lots using a rubber spatula. (ie add 1/3 of flour + cornflour, stir in, repeat twice more).
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of the mixture onto the trays (cookie scoop handy here), then roll into balls using lightly floured hands (to prevent it from sticking). You should have 24 – 28 balls.
- Bake – Press down into 1 cm / 0.4" thickness using a fork. Bake for 15 minutes, switching the trays at the 10 minute mark. Fully cool on trays.
- Sandwiching – Pipe frosting onto half the melting moments, then sandwich with remaining cookies.
- Set – Refrigerate for 1 hour to set the frosting (else it's so soft, it squirts out!). Then remove from the fridge 30 minutes prior to serving.
Lemon icing:
- Cream butter – Place butter in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium high for 1 minute until smooth and fluffy. Add 1/3 of the icing sugar, then beat in starting on low and increasing to high (to avoid snow-storm!). Repeat another 2 times.
- Beat 2 minutes – Add lemon zest and juice. Then beat on high for 2 minutes until fluffy. Transfer to piping bag, snip end off to make a 1cm / 1/2" hole. Use per recipe.
Passionfruit icing:
- Same method as above for lemon icing.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
This happens a thousand times a day. You can see how much he loves it. 😂
Oh — and a side note, I don’t know if Nagi mentioned this, but the cookies expand a little as they cook, so if you want your cookies just exactly one size (most of us don’t care though!), budget for maybe an extra cm/half cm of cookie width.
I’ve made these cookies before and they turned out beautifully, so I’m using the biscuit base for monte carlos too!
There was a second where I was trying to make the dough into neat biscuits, and was thinking, “Good gracious, what’s wrong with these?? I know it made such nice flat biscuits last time (I didn’t use a fork!)”
Then realised that, “OH, it’s because I’m not following the recipe; I didn’t even read the ‘shape your biscuits this way’ step.” 🤣 Late night baking in a nutshell.
I’m about to make my fourth batch of these delicious morsels! Thank you Nagi xx
I am a cake decorator and baker in Mudgee NSW Australia. I use many of Nagi’s recipes for my customers’ cakes and they always turn out and taste great! I used this particular recipe this week for a bride who requested 50 melting moments to accompany her wedding cake. I multiplied this recipe using the multiplier tool on the recipe, adjusted it to be metric (as I always weigh my ingredients!), printed it off, and got to baking! I had 2 spares which I thoroughly enjoyed eating with a cup of tea at the end of a busy week! Thanks Nagi for your amazing recipes as always!
Yummy! Another winner, thanks Nagi. The lemon icing was so perfect! The video helped me see the texture they were supposed to be when rolling the dough. Everyone loved them!
Made this recipe many times and it never fails❤️
I do like to beat the butter cream for way longer usually about 10 mins, so it’s not gluggy and is fluffier. It also makes quite a bit more butter cream because you added more air!
Thank you – they are So Good! They are very popular at my place.
Making double batch of melting moments. The butter doesn’t scale correctly on 28 cookies
Absolutely delicious and a big hit! Wish I’d read your Jam Drops tip first on how to keep cookies from cracking but even though they don’t look perfect they taste amazing. Thanks again, Nagi!
Made these today with gluten free flour and a little xantham gum a little crumbly ,y but so delicious 😋 will be making again for sure !
If you did add custard powder to this recipe (have to admit, I do like the taste) would the recipe need to be adjusted? Thank you!
I make custard kisses which are made similar with custard powder instead of corn flour. The custard powder kind of does the same thing as the cornflour so I’d swap it for that.
Baked this for a baby shower and they loved it! I didn’t have a scooper so I just measured 20g for each ball. I think it was perfect with the baking time too. Thanks for the recipe, Nagi!
Baked this for a baby shower and they loved it! I didn’t have a scooper so I just measured 20g for each ball. I think it was perfect with the baking time too. Thanks for the recipe, Nagi!
The recipe was easy to follow and the ingredients plus the amount of the ingredients was very accurate.
The end result was fantastic and made a beautiful dessert
Absolutely delicious! They were light and decadent. The lemon icing was a flavour bomb. All the biccies are eaten now and I want more!
delishh love it rhubarb icing is banging
I don’t use a forcer but i just put a little heap of icing in the middle of the biscuit and gently press the two biscuits together so that it oozes to the edge, works well
Aww look at Dozer, he is just so loved isn’t he? I like others look at him before the recipe lol. I managed to get this book you talked about off TM in NZ and by the way Nagi, I was so excited to see you walk in on Masterchef yay!! lol I look fwd to seeing you work with the contestants now.
I used this recipe for my first attempt at melting moments and I think it will be the only recipe I use. The biscuit texture is beautiful and the buttercream filling delicious. One friend told me the passionfruit filling was THE nicest she’d ever had!
I don’t have a cookie scoop so I found it easier to weigh each dough ball rather than scoop with any of the spoons I had on hand. That method ensured the biscuits were evenly sized.
28g of dough per biscuit half made really big cafe style melting moments but yielded about 25% fewer finished (sandwiched) biscuits than the recipe estimated. I made smaller ones as well (18g per biscuit half) and felt that was just a nice size. That weight also yielded almost exactly the number of finished biscuits the recipe estimated.
Thanks for a terrific recipe, Nagi!
Thank you for the suggestion of 18g. For me these are the perfect size to take to share with work colleagues.
Only change suggested would be make cookies a bit flatter. Yummy!