A melting moment – a really GOOD melting moment – is a joy. Tender, buttery and usually sandwiched with a rich buttercream, they are a favourite in cafes and home kitchens alike.
“I have loved melting moments for as long as I can remember,” Pamment tells SBS. “They were always the biscuits I chose at cafes and bakeries as a child and still do, if I'm honest! I love the buttery, melt in your mouth texture of the biscuit – good ones always crumble all over your lap – and the creamy buttercream filling (passionfruit if at all possible!).”
If you’ve ever wondered how to make melting moments, here are some tips and recipes to answer all your questions.
Melting moment, yo-yo or custard kiss?
But first, let's address what exactly is a melting moment. You may have seen very similar biscuits under all of these names and wondered what the difference is. What they all have in common is a dough made with butter, icing sugar (most commonly, though you’ll find some recipes that use caster sugar) and plain flour, plus either custard powder or cornflour.
Melting moments from CWA Victoria. Credit: Murdoch Books / Cath Muscat
In the past, it was often said that melting moment recipes used cornflour in the biscuit dough (such as this classic CWA Victoria recipe), while yo-yos (sometimes called custard kisses) used custard powder.
However, there seems to be a lot more cross-over with naming these days, and indeed the passionfruit and citrus melting moments recipe that Pamment has included in her new book, Handfuls of Sunshine, is made with custard powder. We asked her whether she thinks of melting moments and yo-yos as different biscuits.
“I wondered about this when naming them in my book. But for me (and maybe this is a regional or generation thing) this type of biscuit was always known as a melting moment in both the cafes and recipes I cooked from as a child," she says.
"I personally love the addition of custard powder in these biscuits, not only for the sunny-yellow colour it adds, but also for the vanilla-custard flavour it imparts. I think essentially they are the same type of biscuit – but people come to know and love them as either melting moments or yoyos.”
Passionfruit and citrus melting moments. Credit: Tilly Pamment / Murdoch Books
What makes a great melting moment recipe?
No matter what you call them, the tender texture is what makes these buttery biscuits so good (well, that and plenty of filling!). The use of cornflour or custard powder is a key part of that, as they create a tender, crumbly biscuit texture, as Alice Zaslavsky notes in her recipe for Lady Marmalade melting moments, which uses custard powder: “I’ve adopted the custard powder of the classically Aussie yo-yo biscuit, because I like the colour and flavour it provides,” she says).
Marmalade melting moments. Credit: Murdoch Books / Ben Dearnley
Two more tips for success: have the butter at room temperature before you start making the dough so it creams evenly, and cool the biscuits completely before sandwiching them with filling.
Classic or new flavours?
The classic melting moment is a plain, buttery biscuit with a lemon or passionfruit filling, usually a buttercream (such as these gluten-free melting moments with passionfruit icing), or sometimes a simple butter icing.
Gluten-free melting moments Credit: Harper Collins
Or, try a chocolate melting moments version with Trish Mackenzie’s recipe, which she shares in . She adds cocoa to the dough and to the filling to make for a chocolate-y treat.
Chocolate melting moment biscuits. Credit: Everyday Gourmet with Justine Schofield
How long will melting moments keep?
The filled biscuits will keep for four days or so in an airtight container at room temperature (if the weather is hot, you may want to store them in the fridge). That makes them a great idea for a gift.
And can you freeze melting moments? “Personally I have never given this a go – as a batch of melting moments never seems to last long enough in our house! But I am reliably informed that this works a treat,” Pamment says.
For best results, we suggest freezing in single layers in an airtight container for up to two months and letting them thaw fully at room temperature before serving. You could also freeze the unbaked dough.
But, quite like Pamment, you may need to hide them first to ensure they aren't devoured as soon as they are baked!
