Melting moments – a taste of sunshine
I think I may have jumped the gun in my last post. Rather than basking in the summer-like sunshine of late, I spent yesterday holed up indoors, sheltering from the torrential rain with my winter woollies out again for (hopefully) one last hurrah.
Perhaps it’s the feeling of restlessness from being cooped up inside on rainy days, but more often than not, its days like these that I feel inspired to bake.
Feeling somewhat nostalgic, I decided it would be a good day to bake some melting moments. It’s been such a long time since I last indulged and for me at least, they remind me of bite sized pieces of sunshine – perhaps it’s the subtle zesty burst of lemon cream that holds them together.
Whatever it is, they really are a special treat and go perfectly with a nice, hot cup of tea (or coffee).
Perfect for those rainy days when you’re in need of a little sunshine. Enjoy.
- • 250g butter, cubed
- • 1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
- • 1 tsp vanilla essence
- • 1 ¾ cups plain flour
- • 1/3 cup cornflour
- • 60g butter, softened
- • 1 tsp vanilla essence
- • 2 tsp grated lemon rind
- • 1 tbsp lemon juice
- • 2/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
- Preheat the oven to 160°C and line 2 large baking trays with paper.
- Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy, using an electric mixer.
- Sift the flour and cornflour over the creamed butter mix and either fold in by hand, or using the electric mixer on a slow speed. Combine until it forms a soft dough.
- Roll a heaped teaspoon of the dough mixture into a ball with lightly floured hands and place on the lined tray. Repeat, using all the dough mixture, ensuring the balls are spaced about 5 cm apart.
- You should have enough dough mixture to make approximately 36 balls, depending on size. Try to finish with an even number.
- Dip a fork in icing sugar and use to gently flatten the balls.
- Place trays in preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes, swap trays and bake for a further 8 minutes, or until the biscuits are a pale golden colour.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool on trays for approximately 30 minutes.
- While the biscuits are cooling, make the creamy lemon filling.
- Beat the butter, icing sugar and lemon zest until pale and creamy. Add the lemon juice and beat until combined.
- To make the biscuits, spread the buttered cream on the flat side of a biscuit base and sandwich together with another base.
- Repeat, using the remaining biscuits and creamy filling.
- If you fancy, you could try using orange or passionfruit instead of lemon.
- • For the orange variation, simply replace the lemon rind and juice with orange.
- • For the passionfruit variation, simply add the strained pulp of one passionfruit to the dough mixture when combining the butter, sugar and vanilla essence. Also replace the lemon rind and juice with 1 tbsp of passionfruit juice to make the butter cream.
- If you prefer, you could also use custard flour instead of corn flour.
Kelly
02/02/2014 at 11:14 pm (10 years ago)These cookies look beautiful Rachel! I love how pretty and bright the pictures are – definitely makes me think of sunshine and the lemon cream sounds incredible!
Rachel
03/02/2014 at 11:33 am (10 years ago)Hi Kelly, I’m so glad you like them. They’re really simple to make, so you should definitely give them a try if you have a spare moment… rain or shine, they’re sure to brighten up your day. Thanks for leaving a comment. It’s lovely to hear from you and I hope you pop by again soon! 🙂
Andi @ The Weary Chef
31/01/2014 at 5:46 pm (10 years ago)What gorgeous cookies! I really love the effects on your photos. Thanks for sharing these beauties with us at Saturday Night Fever 🙂 Hope to see you back this weekend!
Rachel
01/02/2014 at 1:30 pm (10 years ago)Thanks Andi, I’m so glad you liked the look of them. They really do melt in your mouth, so definitely worth a try if you have some time. Looking forward to the next Saturday Night Fever. See you soon 🙂
Dina
18/09/2013 at 9:08 am (11 years ago)they look yummy!
Rachel
18/09/2013 at 2:05 pm (11 years ago)Thanks Dina, I’m glad you liked the look of them. They were delicious and terribly morish.