Melting moments were absolutely the defining biscuit of my childhood. For any occasion, a melting moment was always the perfect sweet treat. These are whipped up with ease by my Mum, who is absolutely an expert at recreating this biscuit perfectly every time. While they are undeniably perfection just as they are, I can never resist meddling with a recipe, even one as fundamental to my sweet tooth as this one!
‘Jaffa’ or chocolate-orange is one of my favourite flavour combinations for sweets, so I decided to use the base melting moment recipe and add orange zest and a chocolate ganache filling to create Jaffa yo-yos. I’m happy to say it worked beautifully, although I’d love Mum to make these with her expert touch; I feel they would be even better!
Ingredients:
Biscuits:
- 210g butter, softened
- 90g icing sugar
- Zest of 1 orange
- 120g plain flour
- 120g cornflour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Chocolate Ganache:
- 100g dark chocolate
- 30g butter, softened
Preheat the oven to 160°c and line two baking trays with paper.
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the orange zest towards the end of this process.
Sift the flours and baking powder into the butter mixture and beat on low until just combined. It will form a very soft dough.
Roll small balls of dough and place onto the lined trays in a 3 x 4 formation. If you want to be as accurate as possible, you can weigh out 10g blobs of dough to roll each biscuit. Otherwise just go by eye and try to make each biscuit the same so they pair easily.
Press a fork gently onto each ball to form the lined pattern, dipping the fork in flour if it sticks.
Place the trays in the centre of the oven. Check after 10 minutes to see if they are ready. They should look crisp on the outside and ideally will barely have coloured at all. To test if they are ready, try to push one across the tray using the flat of your finger nail on the edge of the biscuit. If the biscuit gives, it is not ready; pop it back in for 2 minutes and check again. If it slides a little without denting, it is cooked. Leave to cool on the tray for 10 minutes or until almost completely cold. Then remove to a wire cooling rack.
While they cool, melt the chocolate (either in the microwave in short bursts or over a double boiler) and then when the chocolate is completely melted, briskly stir in the chopped butter until it melts with the heat of the chocolate to form a smooth ganache.
Pair the biscuits together with a level teaspoon of the ganache and serve on a beautiful plate or pop into an air tight container if they will not be served straight away.
A Tale of Two Kitchens 