So, this is a recipe I used to make years ago, when I was a teenager. The original recipe is from Rosemary Wadey’s Cakes and Cake Decorating which I think I bought with either school prize money, or a Christmas book token when I was about 14 years old. It has some of my favourite biscuit recipes: Grantham Gingers, Oat Crisps, Viennese Biscuits and the easiest of all: 1-2-3 biscuits. But perhaps my favourite was Melting Moments – they are easy to make, look as though you might have bought them and taste scrumptiously delicious.
And they can be adapted. The basic recipe is for vanilla biscuits, rolled in scrunchy cornflakes before they are cooked, and with a nub of glace cherry on top. When I made them recently I realised we only had chocolate weetabix in the cupboard, no plain cornflakes. So, I made chocolate melting moments, rolled in scrunchy chocolate weetabix, still with a nub of glace cherry on top.
Anyway, here we go:
Melting Moments
6oz butter (or half and half, butter and lard – oh yes, this recipe is so old that it uses lard. But in reality, lard can create a shorter texture for biscuits). Soften the butter before you start cooking (so you might want to leave it out in the kitchen for a while before you start)
5oz caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
10oz self raising flour, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence
about 2oz cornflakes, crushed (use a small plastic bag and scrunch them)
8 glace cherries, quartered
Pre-heat oven to 180C / 350F / GM4. Grease 2 baking sheets
- Beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy. This is the most important step in this recipe – if the butter and sugar isn’t creamed properly the mixture won’t be light enough
- Beat in the egg and vanilla essence
- Work in the flour to give a fairly stiff dough
- Take dessertspoonfuls of mixture and roll them into balls
- Roll each ball in crushed cornflakes and place fairly well apart on the baking sheet
- Flatten the balls of mixture slightly and press a piece of cherry into the centre of each ball
- Bake for 15 – 20 mins or till golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.