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Melting Moments Cookies – Five ingredients easy recipe

Melting moments cookies are the most popular cookies on every festive occasion. We make it for every Christmas and Chinese New Year, pack it in small boxes as a present to people and friends. There was once we even make some extra to sell.

Our melting moment consists of only five ingredients. It melts in the mouth, full of buttery flavor, very crumbly and addictive. It is not surprising that whoever has tried it can finish eating the whole box while watching their favorite TV program.

Have you decided what cookies you make for the upcoming celebration? Include melting moments in your list! This recipe will guarantee that you will get prises and compliments from friends and families, with minimum time and effort.

The best thing is you can bake it early and store well in the freezer.

Let take a look at how to make these melt-in-the-mouth cookies.

melting moments recipe

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1. Mesure all the ingredients

Measure the following ingredients before we get started:

380g of butter, cut into small cubes, 130g icing sugar, 330g cake flour, 140g cornstarch, 5g fine salt.

butter biscuits,
Butter

The flavor of the cookies depends mostly on the butter. I am using the Anchor brand butter from New Zealand, which yields an excellent result.

Never substitute the butter wholly or partially with margarine. Choose the best butter that you can get or at least one with decern quality.

Cut the butter into small cubes. It is easier to cut the butter with a sharp knife before it turns soft. Unwrap the butter and cut it on the wrapping paper into 16 small cubes. Transfer it directly into the mixer bowl to keep your working table clean and tidy.

Butter can be salted or unsalted. I prefer the unsalted butter because I can adjust the saltiness without restriction. You have to omit the salt in the recipe if you are using the salted butter.

Sugar

I use icing sugar to make my melting moments.  I will sieve the sugar first before adding it to the mixing bowl if the icing sugar clump together. You can use either a flour sifter or and wire mesh sieve.

How about castor sugar or granulated sugar? I have not made melting moments with either one, as I worried that it would affect the result. For now, I will stick to icing sugar before I am willing to take the risk of sacrificing a batch of my melting moments for testing.

melt in your mouth butter cookies
Flour

There are two types of flour in the recipe the regular cake flour and cornstarch.

Cornstarch is the ingredients that make the melting moments so crumbly and light. The cookies will become more crumbly and crispy with a larger amount of cornstarch. However, the melting moments will become too dry if the amount of cornstarch is too large. The cookies will also shatter easily and difficult to handle.

The amount in this recipe is just right after years of fine-tuning.

Salt

As I mentioned above, omit salt if you are using the salted butter. If not, always use the fine salt (table salt).

There was once I wrongly use the coarser salt for cooking, and we get complaints to form our customers that they bite on salt granules.

melt in the mouth butter cookies
2. Mix all the ingredients

I like to add the butter first, followed by the icing sugar, and cornstarch and salt. Lastly, add the cake flour on top.

I have a reason to add the cake flour last.

The icing sugar and cornstarch are very fine, which will fly up to the air and dirty your kitchen when you turn on the machine. This incidence can happen especially with an open-ended mixer.

Therefore, I purposely add the cake flour last which is much coarser and dense. This way, all the ingredients will combine well without flying up the air that much.

How long it takes to combine

It takes about half a minute to mix all the ingredients. The exact time depends on how soft the butter, and how small the butter cubes are.

Once the mixture clumps together, it will be no longer stick to the mixing bowl. That is when you should stop mixing.

You can use a mixer or a food processor, as long as the ingredients are well mixed. If you use a mixer, choose the flat blade to mix the dough, dough hook is not suitable as it is best only for making bread, while wire whisk attachment may not be strong enough to incorporate the butter well.

butter cookies recipe

3. Prepare for baking

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C, both top and bottom heat.
  • Cut a large piece of baking paper to the size of your baking tray.
  • Apply some oil to the paper with a bakery brush.

Shape the cookies

You can do one of the followings:

  1. Use a small amount of the cookie dough to form a small ball with your hands. I made some small melting moments which is about 12g each, but you can make bigger cookies if you want.  Place the ball on an oiled baking paper, well separated from each other. Press it down with the back of the fork to form a pattern.
  2. Otherwise, you can also pipe it onto the baking paper.  Choose a piping bag nozzles to create the pattern that you like.

Note: Keep the cookies dough in the refrigerator for a while if it is too soft to handle. The dough will turn soft if you leave it at room temperature during summer, or in a tropical country like me.

4. Baking

Bake at 190°C for 18 minutes for the cookies weighted 12g each. Use a kitchen timer to keep track of the baking time.  You need to increase the baking time at the same temperature for the larger melting moments.

Please take note that the temperature indicators of many ovens are not very reliable. You can use an oven thermometer to confirm the accuracy of the temperature setting. Please test out with my recommended temperature setting with a small quantity, and then adjust accordingly when you make a larger batch.

If you are unsure, set the baking time two minutes shorter than the intended total baking time. Open the door of the oven partially to have a quick peep at the cookies. This way will ensure you will not overbake the cookies.

Melting moments cookies

danish butter cookies
5. Cooling and packaging

Cool the cookies on the baking tray. Be very careful because it is very fragile.

You can arrange it in a small container, with some bubble wrap as the separator. The only downside of this melting moments is that they are so fragile that and I wouldn’t advise shipping them.

Seal it up with cellophane tape. It can be kept and remain crisp for at least two weeks at room temperature. The melting moments have the advantage of freezing well. Keep it frozen if you want to make it in advance.

The Melting Moments Recipe

Yield: 80 cookies

Melting Moments Cookies Recipe

melting moments

Melting Moments Cookies - the most crumbly, buttery, and delicious cookies ever, so easy to make and yields the best result every time. Very easy to bake with five simple ingredients. Perfect for all celebrations. They can be kept up to two weeks, and even longer in the freezer. That makes it perfect for anyone who likes to do an early Christmas baking.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Instructions

  1. Measure all the ingredients.
  2. Put all the ingredients in a mixer or blender. Add the butter first, followed by icing sugar, and cornstarch and salt.
  3. Lastly, add the cake flour on top.
  4. Mix until the ingredients are well combined and clear from the side of the mixing bowl.  
  5. Place a piece of baking paper on the baking tray. 
  6. Apply some oil to the paper with a bakery brush. 
  7. Use a small amount of the cookie dough to form a ball with your clean hand, about 12g each. Place the ball on an oiled baking paper, well separated from each other. Press it down with the back of the fork to form a pattern. Otherwise, you can also pipe it onto the baking paper.
  8. Bake at 190°C for 18 - 20 minutes.
  9. Put the cookies into the cookie box, and separate with the bubble wraps.
  10. Seal it up with cellophane tape. 

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10 boxes (8 cookies each)

Serving Size:

100g per box

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 496Total Fat: 31gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 440mgCarbohydrates: 52gFiber: 1gSugar: 13gProtein: 3g

Trinity

Tuesday 12th of July 2022

Am looking to start a cookie supply for extra cash so l think this recipe will give me a great start point but l would like to do 100 units batches how much do l increase for the extra 20

KP Kwan

Thursday 14th of July 2022

I think all the ingredients can be scaled up proportionately. However, the oven time and temperature should remain the same.

Sharon

Monday 21st of March 2022

Hi KP,

I’m really keen to try your recipe. I was wondering, could I can replace the cake flour with standard flour? If so, do I just replace with the same weight measurement or cup measurement?

Thanks!

KP Kwan

Monday 21st of March 2022

Yes, please use the standard flour, same weight. It works. Thanks.

Ebony

Sunday 9th of January 2022

Can I add milk powder in the recipe to make it more creamy? If so, what are the adjustments that I need to do in the recipe?

KP Kwan

Sunday 9th of January 2022

I have not tested the result after adding milk powder. My guess is it will make it more creamy, but less crispy/crumbly. I would add 2 tbsp of milk powder with no changes to the measurements of other ingredients to give it a try.

Maiyo

Friday 7th of January 2022

Hi KP,

I’d tried your recipe and the cookies turned out great.

However when I tried to refrigerate the dough for my 2nd batch of cookies (I’d only one baking tray), the cookies turn out to be less light as compared to the 1st batch.

Can I know why is this so?

Secondly, I would like to make smaller quantity of cookies of about 50. Can I know how much of the ingredients should I prepare as your recipe yields 80 cookies.

Your advice is much appreciated and thank you for your great recipe.

KP Kwan

Saturday 8th of January 2022

Hi Maiyo, I am not sure why it is less light after refrigerating, as that did not happen to me so far. As for the small amount, you can reduce all the ingredients in the recipe to 2/3, and it should yield about 50 cookies. KP Kwan

Bethany

Tuesday 4th of January 2022

Hi KP Kwan,

Just a couple of questions.

1) Do we freeze baked cookies or the dough? 2) If we freeze baked ones, how do we thaw them? In the refrigerator or just on the counter?

I'm planning to bake and bring it back to hometown for family. Read that you mentioned these cookies can be made ahead and freeze well.

Also, can we add earl grey tea leaves to make them into earl grey butter cookies?

KP Kwan

Wednesday 5th of January 2022

Hi Bethany, I suggest you bake all the cookies and then keep them in the refrigerator if you make them in advance. Suppose you make it much earlier than in the freezer. I am referring to the baked cookies, not the dough. I need to point out that these cookies are very fragile. So make sure you use some protection, for example, bubble plastic wrap, to protect while sending or bringing them back. Thanks, KP Kwan

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