There’s a reason why these all-time favourite bikkies are called melting moments. As soon as they touch your lips, the buttery shortbread melts in your mouth and the creamy vanilla filling clings to your tastebuds in a short burst of delicious sweetness.
How to make best-ever melting moments: key tips
When creaming the butter and icing sugar, you need to use butter that has been softened to room temperature so that the ingredients become evenly combined. Beat until very pale and creamy and your mixture will be sublimely airy.
When rolling the shortbread dough into balls, work as quickly as you can. The dough contains a lot of butter and will soften very easily with the heat of your hands. You’ll need about 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Use lightly floured hands when rolling the dough to prevent it sticking but, if the dough becomes too soft, pop it into the fridge for a few minutes so that it firms up just enough to be easy to work with.
Pressing the balls of dough on the tray with the prongs of a fork flattens the balls to the desired shape while giving the tops of the biscuits that ‘signature’ ripple. Avoid making more than one ‘press’ with the fork so that your lines are clear and uniform.
Using a piping bag to apply the icing keeps things pretty, but you could just as easily spread on the icing using a palette knife. Another trick is to dollop some icing in the centre of a biscuit so that it spreads evenly to the edges creating ‘neat’ sides when sandwiched with the second biscuit.
After cooking, the shortbread biscuits will be very soft, so sit them aside on the trays for about 10 minutes before you transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
Key ingredients in this best-ever melting moments recipe
For the best flavour, use fresh unsalted butter for these biscuits, and not margarine.
While pure icing sugar can be used in the biscuit dough, the filling needs the softer icing sugar mixture so that it remains fluffy and doesn’t set hard. For ease, I just use icing sugar mixture for both.
If you love an old-fashioned biscuit as much as I do, expand your repertoire with 50 classic biscuits every baker should know. Any of these 20 favourite ginger biscuits will also go down very well with a nice hot cuppa.
This recipe was originally submitted by shazznbaz, a member of the Australia’s Best Recipe community. Introduction and additional recipe notes by Natasha Shaw.
Ingredients
- 250g butter
- 4 tbs icing sugar mixture
- 4 tbs custard powder
- 1 1/2 cups plain flour
Filling
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 2 1/2 tbs butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Method
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Step 1Cream butter and icing sugar until pale and fluffy.
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Step 2In a separate bowl, sift custard powder and flour together.
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Step 3Continue beating butter mixture whilst adding the flour mixture, a couple of tablespoons at a time, until all combined.
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Step 4Roll into 24 balls, working quickly so the mixture remains cool.
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Step 5Refrigerate the uncooked biscuits for 3-5 minutes, so they hold their shape when cooked.
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Step 6With a fork, press down to flatten tops of the biscuits slightly and bake at 150C for 15-20 minutes.
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Step 7To make filling: Beat icing sugar, butter and vanilla together until light and fluffy.
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Step 8Divide the mixture across 12 of the biscuits and then join together with the remaining 12.
Recipe Notes
Why do my melting moments go flat in the oven?
If your biscuits become too flat, your oven may have been too hot, which causes the butter to melt before your biscuits have had the chance to cook. Stick to 150C and your biscuits should remain lovely and thick.
How do I store melting moments?
Store unfilled biscuits in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 1 week. Store filled biscuits in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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