6 Mar 2013

melting moments

The story I have to tell you about these biscuits is this: they are the most sensual thing I've made in a long time. If cooking should be an enjoyable experience, then these are downright pleasurable.

From sifting the snowy white icing sugar onto soft butter, beating it til it transforms to a creamy cloud; not even the dark amber of the vanilla sullies its white purity. The powdery cornflour makes it even silkier; you'll find no resistance as you fold the flour with your wooden spoon, only smoothness. These are not biscuits that you 'bash' up - rather, they invite sleek, dreamy caresses.

Then, somehow, there is enough mass to roll this buttery, palest dough - a word too heavy for this mix - into blonde balls. Even pressing the tines of a fork into each biscuit, flattening them down gently, is a remarkable visual joy. I defy you to make these and not see the beauty in the process.

And of course, in the final product - a tenderly melting biscuit, defiantly pale, and elegant in their spareness.

Melting moments
From the Australian Women's Weekly 'Biscuits, brownies and biscotti'. I halved the recipe, and I did not sandwich them together with a cream as is the norm.
  • Preheat oven to 170 and prepare a couple of baking trays.
  • Cream 125 gms soft butter with 1/4 cup icing sugar (sifted in) and 1/2 tspn vanilla - all til smooth and fluffy.
  • Sift in 3/4 cup plain flour and 1/4 cup cornflour, then fold thru til combined.
  • Working briskly (especially if the weather is warm), take up a small spoonful of mixture - equivalent roughly to 2 tspns - and roll into a ball. Place on your baking trays and flatten gently with a fork dipped in flour.
  • Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stand on trays for 5 minutes before transferring to racks to cool.

8 comments:

  1. I baked similar cookies some fifteen years ago, and then never found the recipe again. Now I have a great one! They are gorgeous!

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    1. oh, i'm glad i could help, paula! they are really lovely - i'm having one right now, in fact, with a cup of green tea.

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  2. I've just taken some butter out of the fridge so I can make these later this afternoon. You've woken up the baker in me. Thanks!

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    1. wow! sue, let me know how you go. it's always amazing to hear someone acting upon my posts (and worries me that i copied the recipe correctly).

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  3. Wow, you were channelling your inner Nigella with this one! I do have to agree though, a perfect melting moment is a thing of beauty and a joy for ever. Do you find yourself disappointed when buying them in a cafe though? They are usually huge, and clapped together with icing like cement. Yours look beautifully delicate and properly melt-in-the-mouth..

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    1. Mine are only about an inch across. And I only buy things in cafes that i can't make at home, for that reason (I also think, "I'm not paying $7 for this, I can make it at home cheaper!").
      Ah, and thank you for the Nigella reference!

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  4. I love melting moments, I use to put passionfruit icing in between them. I am trying to hunt down a recipe for custard ones I use to make as a kid, I think they use to be the Day to Day cookery book. So good. You biccies look really tasty, wish I was having one right now with my cuppa.

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    1. the passionfruit icing is very traditional isn't it? i just wanted to goble these up without fussing over an icing :-)
      and, first, get your passionfruits. i have decided to grow a vine, as they are ludicrously expensive to buy here.

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