Melting moments and all that Jazz

 

 

Trio of Melting Moments

Trio of Moments

Have you ever have one of those weekends where you know you want to bake something but for the life of you, you can not decide what that is exactly? You leaf through foodie magazines or perhaps do a CSI style investigation of the baking underworld on the internet.  This is where you would find me that Saturday morning; wandering up and down the empty tumbleweed aisles of my baking mind and having a conversation with myself or at least I hope it was with myself?

 

Coffee Shop of Indecision

In my head I was in baking land stuck inside the coffee shop of indecision. Mrs Stollen was making my coffee mocha to go her flaked almond earrings dancing below her ears as she frothed the milk looking at me with her deep curranty fixed eyes. Her glaze broke as she turned her head to see what accompanied the drifting sound of click clacking heels. Opened mouthed we both see Miss Tart au Citron strutting past the window, she flicks back her golden Mary Berry limited edition lemony locks in what only can be described as a perfected ‘playing hard to get’ move. Sucking noises from across the room alert me to little Miss Sticky Toffee Cupcakes.   She is seductively licking her swizzle sugar stick with the flair of an adulteress that had not been let out in a while. The moment breaks as Mrs Stollen slams down my coffee mocha and I suddenly find myself back in my kitchen with coffee down my PJ’s and as I wipe it off I think to myself ‘Sod the lot of them’.

 

 

Join in today

 

Twitter Induced Hysteria

The morning was crazy; my mobile doing an anticipative jig on the worktop signalling email messages and twitter

updates as the online world had woken up and was in a good mood.  The internet seekers out there seemed to like my post about raising a mince pie in memory of Joanna Yeates.  I began praying the post would make it to 50 hits, then 100 and by 150 I was experiencing a cross between a hot flush and vibration white finger from excessive pressing of the F5 (refresh page) key. On a normal Saturday a fresh post might get 10 views so when this post hit over 200 in a few hours I was out of my comfort zone to say the least. ‘Hats off to the pro bloggers I think I would need extra strong hospital pants, super strength deoderant and vallium if I had to do that every weekend’ 

Full Cast Line Up

All that Jazz

I was having a full on ‘oh my god I just don’t believe it!’ moment in true Victor Meldrew style when I realised that ‘moment’ was quite literally the baked good I was looking for.  It had to be the Melting Moment biscuit which I had first laid eyes on as I watched Mary-Anne Boerman bake them on the Great British Bake Off (week 4).  One look and I was captivated so much so a few months later they were still dancing in and out of my head doing a full cast encore and showing their frilly biscuit skirts. These little ladies with their patterned costumes and billowing fluttery buttercream must have been working that morning whilst I was in the coffee shop of indecision. Most likely they were on stage provocatively shimmying until their garters broke whilst crooning a rendition of ‘all that jazz’. If these biscuits could talk they would say ‘Start the car I know a whoopee spot’.

 

Pout for me ladies

Better Than Tap Dancing Rouged Knee Ladies with PMT
With the baking target now locked firmly in sight despite being in the midst of twitter induced hysteria a sense of calmness finally flooded over me as I started to create the full cast ensemble of melting moments.   Once piped on the tray these little lovelies only take 15 mins to cook and are far less hassle than a stage full of tap dancing rouged knee ladies with PMT.  These speedy biscuits don’t waste lots of precious weekend moments to make.  Even though they did not take long to complete by the time I had got around to photographing them my poor family had to wait until Sunday evening until they were allowed to eat them but you don’t have to be so mean!  These biscuits are truly seductive and in true Chicago style their taste plays fast and loose on your taste buds so love these melting moments and all that baking jazz!

 

Enjoy x

    

I still can't see the whoopee spot? Lift me higher...

Makes approx 16
Cooks in 15 mins
Prep 45 mins

Ingredients (recipe taken from Good Food Online)

350g unsalted butter (room temperature)
80g Icing sugar
300g plain flour
50g Cornflour
25g Cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

White and Milk Chocolate Buttercream Filling
125g Butter
170g Icing sugar
60g of milk chocolate
60g of white chocolate

View from the VIP Box

Instructions
Heat the oven to 180C / Gas 4 / Fan 150c

1. Grease and line two baking trays
2. Beat together butter and icing sugar for the biscuits for 5 minutes until creamy using a stand or hand mixer
3. Sieve the flour and cornflour over the mixture and mix until all is combined using the mixer
4. Divide the mixture in half and place in two bowls
5. To one bowl add the vanilla extract and to the other add the cocoa powder – mix both well until fully combined

Making the Vanilla Melting Moments

Before make up

1. Stand a piping bag with a 1cm star nozzle (approx) in a pint or tall glass so that the nozzle is at the bottom of the glass.  Fold the bag over the top of the glass to make it easier to fill in the bag with mixture.
2. Take half of the mixture (start with vanilla or chocolate ) and place into a piping bag
3. Pipe the biscuits to the size of a walnut and leave space in-between for the mixture to spread whilst baking .
4. Place in the fridge for at least 5-10 minutes as this helps to keep the pattern on the biscuits

Making the Chocolate and Vanilla Melting Moments
I do it in this order as it requires less washing of the piping bag as I don’t have two.

1. Divide the chocolate mixture in half
2. Take a tablespoon of the remaining vanilla mixture and place into the piping bag (keep it roughly to one side of the bag)
3. Now do the same with a tablespoon of the chocolate mixture putting it next to the vanilla mixture as the two need to mix together when they are piped as this is what will give the biscuits a two-tone effect
4. Repeat this with more alternating quarter spoonfuls of mixture in equal measurements until you have no vanilla left and half of the chocolate mixture remains untouched ready for the batch of chocolate biscuits.
5. Pipe the biscuits starting with any space left on the vanilla tray and leave space in between for the mixture to spread whilst baking – place in the fridge while you do the chocolate mixture
6. The cocoa in these will keep the biscuits pattern more easily and don’t need refrigeration for as long (unless its warm)
7. Wash the bag out now ready to pipe the remaining chocolate biscuits.

Making the Chocolate Melting Moments

Stop pulling my hair!

1. Repeat the same instructions as the vanilla biscuits using the remaining chocolate mixture

Place the vanilla tray in the oven for approx 12 – 15 minutes depending on your oven.  If you are neurotic like me you will check at 11 minutes.  They are ready when they are a very light brown colour.  For the chocolate tray –  do this tray last as then you know exactly how long it took the first batch (vanilla) to turn a very light brown, take note of the time needed for this batch (adjust if needed)  and remove from the oven.  Leave on the tray for aprox 10 minutes to harden and then transfer to cool on a wire rack.

Buttercream

1. Beat together the butter and icing sugar (causing a tornado of icing sugar in the air so stick your tongue out) until fluffy (About 5 minutes)
2. Divide the mixture equally into two bowls
3. Melt the white chocolate and add to one mixture and mix well until combined and it is consistent in colour
4. Do the same with the milk chocolate and add to the remaining half buttercream
5. Leave to cool for ten minutes before piping

White Chocolate Buttercream

1. This uses the technique as the biscuit mixture so you will need to use half of the white chocolate buttercream first
2. Place into a piping bag with a 1cm star nozzle
3. Pipe a swirl on the vanilla biscuits and then find a matching equally sized biscuit and sandwich together

White and Milk Chocolate Buttercream

1. Use half of the chocolate mixture and the remaining white chocolate
2. Alternate dessert spoons of  white chocolate mixture with chocolate mixture in the piping bag (like you did with the biscuits)
3. Repeat until you have used all of the white chocolate buttercream and still have half the milk chocolate mixture untouched ready for the batch of chocolate biscuits.
4. Pipe a swirl of buttercream to the vanilla and chocolate biscuits and then find a matching equally sized biscuit and sandwich together
5. Wash the bag out now ready to pipe the remaining chocolate buttercream.

Milk Chocolate

1. Pipe the remaining chocolate onto the chocolate biscuits and sandwich them together
2. Slick your hair and wear your buckle shoes and eat one of these whilst doing jazz hands with the other.
   

   Slick your hair, wear your buckle shoes and all that jazz