Melting moments - The 5 ingredients butter cookies (easy recipe) (2024)

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

Our melting moment consists of only five simple ingredients. It melts in the mouth, full of buttery flavor, crumbly and addictive. Unsurprisingly, 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 guarantees you will get praise and compliments from friends and family with minimum time and effort.

It is best to bake it early and store it well in the freezer.

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

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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 (confectioner’s sugar), 330g cake flour, 140g cornstarch, 5g fine salt.

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a. 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 or at least one with decern quality.

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

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

b. Sugar

I use icing sugar to make my melting moments. I will sieve the sugar before adding it to the mixing bowl if the icing sugar clumps together. You can use either a flour sifter or a 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 risk sacrificing a batch of my melting moments for testing.

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c. Flour

The recipe has two types of flour: regular cake flour and cornstarch. All purpose flour can be used too,

Cornstarch is the ingredient that makes the melting moments so crumbly and light. The cookies will become more crumbly and crispy with more cornstarch. However, the melting moments will become too dry if the cornstarch is too large. The cookies will also shatter easily and be difficult to handle.

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

d. Salt

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

There was once I wrongly used the coarser salt for cooking, and we got complaints from our customers that they bit on salt granules.

Note: I do not use vanilla extract, lemon juice, and custard powder, as they are unnecessary.

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2. Mix all the ingredients

I like to add the butter first, followed by the icing sugar, 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 fine, flying into the air and dirtying your kitchen when you turn on the machine. This incidence can happen especially with an open-ended electric mixer

Therefore, I purposely added 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 is and how small the butter cubes are.

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

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

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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 following:

  1. Use a small amount of the cookie dough to form small balls with your hands. I made some small melting moments, about 12g each, but you can make bigger cookies. Place the balls separated from each other on a large sheet of parchment paper. Press it down with the tines of a fork to form a pattern.
  2. Otherwise, you can also pipe it onto the baking paper. Choose a piping bag nozzle to create the pattern that you like.

Note: Keep the cookie 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 mine.

4. Baking

Bake at 190°C for 18 minutes for the cookies weighted 12g each until golden brown. 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 note that many ovens’ temperature indicators are not very reliable. You can use an oven thermometer to confirm the accuracy of the temperature setting. Please test my recommended temperature setting with a small quantity, then adjust accordingly when you make a larger batch.

If unsure, set the baking time to two minutes shorter than the intended total. 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.

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5. Cooling and packaging

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Cool the cookies on the baking tray. I do not recommend transferring it to cool on a wire rack because it is very fragile.

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

Seal it up with cellophane tape in an airtight container. These delicious cookies can remain crisp at room temperature for at least two weeks. 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

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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 Time15 minutes

Cook Time20 minutes

Total Time35 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

Melting moments - The 5 ingredients butter cookies (easy recipe) (2024)

FAQs

Why are my melting moments flat? ›

The Problem: Your Oven Is Too Hot

If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure.

What are the 4 basic dry ingredients that are mainly used when baking cookies? ›

While there may be countless variations, each cookie at the core has four ingredients – butter, sugar, flour & eggs. The proportions of ingredients and the methods of mixing are what define our cookies. Dough spreads – Inside the hot oven, the butter starts to melt and the dough gradually starts to spread out.

What are the 6 basic cookies? ›

  • Bar Cookies. Baked in shallow pan and then cut into bars or squares. ...
  • Drop Cookies. Made from soft dough dropped onto a cookie sheet. ...
  • Rolled Cookies. Made from stiff chilled dough cut into different shapes with cookie cutters. ...
  • Molded Cookies. Shaped by hand. ...
  • Refrigerator Cookies. ...
  • Pressed Cookies.

What does butter do in baking cookies? ›

The job of butter in baking (besides being delicious) is to give richness, tenderness and structure to cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. We alter the way butter works in a recipe by changing its temperature and choosing when to combine it with the other ingredients.

What is the secret ingredient to keep cookies soft? ›

Cornstarch Is The Secret To Soft And Chewy Cookies.

What makes cookies fluffy and not flat? ›

Flour adds fluff and texture to the cookies. Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour.

What ingredient makes cookies less dry? ›

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

Is butter wet or dry? ›

One more thing to note is that butter should be treated as a wet ingredient when melted, but a dry ingredient at all other times, even when softened. This is why you rub cold, cubed butter into the flour when making scones - you're evenly dispersing the butter into the flour before adding your wet ingredients.

How does sugar affect the size of a cookie? ›

The lower the amount of sugar in the cookie, the less it will spread. The lower the amount of sugar, the drier and more crumbly the cookie will be.

What's the most popular cookie in the world? ›

Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world. It is now sold in over 100 countries. Oreo was first produced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known as Na-Bis-Co. But did you know Oreos are a copycat product?

What are cookies for beginners? ›

Cookies are small files of information that a web server generates and sends to a web browser. Web browsers store the cookies they receive for a predetermined period of time, or for the length of a user's session on a website. They attach the relevant cookies to any future requests the user makes of the web server.

What is a drop cookie? ›

“Drop cookie” is a term applied to cookie recipes where bakers “drop” cookie dough from a spoon or cookie scoop onto a baking sheet, rather than roll it out or cut it into specific shapes.

What does vanilla do in cookies? ›

Vanilla extract and how important is it for the baking process. The primary purpose of vanilla extract is to add flavour to baked goods. Lacking it, baked goods tend to have a bland and boring taste. Vanilla extract can also contribute moisture to create a soft and fluffy texture.

What happens if you put too little butter in cookies? ›

Dry Texture: Butter is a source of moisture in cookie dough. Without enough butter, the dough can become dry and crumbly. This can make it difficult to form the dough into cohesive balls or drop it onto baking sheets, and it can result in cookies that are overly dry and lacking in tenderness.

Why are my cookies turned out flat? ›

OVEN IS TOO HOT

Oven temperatures are a crucial factor in baking. If your cookies consistently come out flat, you may have selected the wrong baking temperature. If you bake cookies using too much heat, the fats in the dough begin to melt before the other ingredients can cook together and form your cookie's rise.

How do you fix flat cookies? ›

Adjust leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda are responsible for the rise and structure of cookies. If your cookies are too flat, try slightly increasing these leavening agents. Conversely, if your cookies are overly puffy and then collapse into flatness, it could be due to using too much leavening agent.

Why do snickerdoodles come out flat? ›

Why are my snickerdoodles flat? Snickerdoodles can come out flat if 1) the leaveners you used (for this recipe, it's both the baking soda and the cream of tartar) are on the old side and no longer work, and 2) if you baked them at a lower temperature. First, figure out if it's your leavener.

Why do my snowball cookies go flat? ›

Snowball cookies should not flatten. Since they do not contain a leavening agent, the main factor to check is that the dough is chilled before baking.

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