Original Be-Ro Melting Moments-Afternoon Tea Biscuits or Cookies

French Tart's Note:

These are great little "light as a feather" and meltingly crisp English style biscuits, or cookies. This recipe is the slightly adapted recipe from the Be-Ro Flour cookbook - they suggest lard, but I don't "do" lard! Melting Moments ALWAYS made an appearance on my grandmother and mum's afternoon tea table, and we also had them popped into our lunch boxes for school. The recipe is SO easy to rustle up and they stay crisp and fresh for up to 5 days in an airtight tin. You can roll them in coconut or oats, I prefer coconut - but I am sure they would be just as nice with oats, which is a suggested alternative. Children and "big children" love these, and they really are melting moments, great with a cuppa English tea!

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 25 Melting ...

• 5 ounces soft butter or 5 ounces soft margarine
• 3 ounces caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 ounces self raising flour
• desiccated coconut or oats
• glace cherries

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 180ºC, 350ºF, Gas Mark 4. Grease two baking trays.
2. Cream the butter or margarine with the sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla essence or extract.
3. Stir in the flour and mix well.
4. Roll walnut sized pieces of the mixture into balls and toss in rolled oats or desiccated coconut.
5. Cut each glace cherry into quarters, for quarter for each melting moment.
6. Place on baking trays, flatten slightly and place a small piece of cherry on each biscuit. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown but NOT dark brown.
7. N.B. To help shape "ball" type biscuits, slightly dampen the hands.

Reviews

[magpie diner]

These are sinfully good! Like everyone else said, so quick to make, you really can't go wrong. I ended up double baking mine...even with 15 mins they were still a little soggy in the middle. Now they're nice and crisp and light. Could have something to do with not having self raising flour, I used regular and added about a tsp of baking powder. I'm sure these will be requested often. (I also used a cranberry on top....seemed like best substitute). Thanks FT!

[Kate in Katoomba]

I hadn't made these biscuits since school cookery lessons. The beauty of these biscuits is that you usually have these ingredients to hand, so can whip up a batch in a very Martha Stewart way ... anyway, I used butter, not lard and rolled the biscuits in oats and they were delicious. I would suggest that you leave your cooked biscuits to harden on the cookie tray. Many thanks for reminding me of this delicious recipe.

[Gerry]

A wonderful recipe for Melting Moments - a touch different then one I have been making and so good that it has been added to my holiday collection. Obviously did the conversion right as they were wonderful on the Boxing Day sweet tray. Used real vanilla and the coconut. Thank you for sharing - Melting Moments are prefect for holiday entertaining - as well as along with that quiet cuppa.