I am a huge fan of Facebook…I love the photos and status updates particularly because I miss the old days when ‘visiting’ was a weekend activity.  Well, Facebook is like visiting….I really do feel like I am in touch and up to speed with the goings on.

I also get recipe requests on Facebook.  That’s the upside….the downside for me is that I don’t post recipes that have not been tried and tested, especially if I have not cooked it up for ages.  While I was away recently, I was sent a message by Delaine Chetty requesting a recipe for ‘Melting Moments’.  My childhood memories came rushing back….delicious melt in the mouth biscuits sandwiched together with vanilla icing…Oh yum….I love my job!  I always have an excuse to cook or bake something decadent.

I got to the refrigerator and hauled out a few blocks of Spar butter (I am going to have to replenish my stash soon!).  It took just a few minutes to make up the biscuit dough – I ran into some trouble with piping the biscuits.  I use the disposable plastic piping bags which tend to break easily with a biscuit dough…they do work really well with icing and meringues though.    I muttered a few curses when I realised I had broken the last bag and then started rolling the dough into balls.  They were just as delicious even if they were different to the piped sort that I was familiar with as a child.

There are lots of different variations to this recipe but here is one of my favourites which is the Classic version.

Classic Melting Moments

Ingredients

200g Spar butter

125ml castor sugar

1 egg

2 – 3 drops vanilla essence

275ml flour

120ml cornflour

120ml custard powder

2,5ml baking powder

Pinch of salt

Here’s how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Sift the flour, cornflour, custard and baking powder twice.

Add the salt to the sifted dry ingredients.

Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar.

Scrape the bowl to ensure that all the butter is creamed.

Continue beating until light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolk and a teaspoon of flour and continue beating until well combined.

Add the vanilla essence and beat for a few seconds.

Drop the sifted dry ingredients into the cream butter and egg mixture.

Use your fingertips to work the ingredients into a soft dough.

Roll the dough into little balls and place them on a greased baking tray.

Use a fork to press the balls down lightly.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the base of the biscuits are golden brown.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

To prepare the icing:

70ml soft Spar butter

160ml icing sugar

15ml full cream milk

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.

Sift the icing sugar into the butter and continue beating on the lowest speed.

Continue beating until the icing is light and well combined.

Add milk and beat for a few seconds.

Use a palette knife and spread a little icing onto the flat side of half the biscuits.

Sandwich the biscuits with the remaining halves.

Yudhika’s tips:

I always use butter when I make these….when a recipe asks for butter, marg just won’t do.

I weigh each ball of dough with an electric scale.  They should weigh around 15g and you should get about 40 biscuits in total on the baking tray.

Rinse your hands often when rolling the dough into balls – this prevents the dough from sticking to your palms.