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

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!

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Yields: 25-30 Melting Moments

Ingredients

• 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.