Melting Moments Biscuits, Sandwiched with Buttercream
A New Zealand biscuit-tin classic: short, pale shortbread biscuits that melt in the mouth, joined in pairs with a soft buttercream filling.
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Melting moments earn their name honestly. They are short, pale biscuits that yield the moment you bite, then dissolve rather than crunch, and a soft buttercream filling holds two together so each one is really a small sandwich. They have sat in New Zealand biscuit tins and Edmonds cookbooks since the 1930s, and they belong at morning teas, school galas and afternoon cups of tea.
The texture is the whole point, so the ingredient list is built to keep the crumb tender rather than crisp. Icing sugar instead of caster sugar, and a measure of cornflour folded through the plain flour, both work to soften the gluten and give that melt-in-the-mouth finish. If you have baked our ginger crunch slice, you already know how a high proportion of butter keeps a biscuit short; here it is taken a step further.
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 200 g butter, softened
- 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 cup cornflour
Buttercream filling
- 75 g butter, softened
- 3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, or 2 tbsp passionfruit pulp
- 1 tsp milk, if needed to loosen
Method
- Heat the oven and line the trays. Set the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the softened butter, sifted icing sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy. The lighter you take this, the softer the finished biscuit.
- Add the flours. Sift in the plain flour and cornflour and stir until the mixture comes together into a soft dough. Do not overwork it.
- Roll and flatten. Roll tablespoon-size pieces into balls about the size of a walnut. Space them well apart on the trays, then press each one gently with a floured fork to flatten slightly and leave the ridged top.
- Bake until just firm. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until set and firm to a light touch but still pale. They should not brown; colour means a crisper, less tender biscuit.
- Cool before filling. Leave the biscuits on the tray for five minutes to settle, then move to a rack to cool completely. They are fragile while warm.
- Make the buttercream. Beat the butter, sifted icing sugar and vanilla or passionfruit until smooth and pale, adding the milk only if it needs loosening.
- Sandwich in pairs. Match the cooled biscuits by size, spread a teaspoon of buttercream on the flat underside of one, and press its partner on top.
- Cornflour is what keeps these short and tender. Swapping in custard powder instead gives the closely related yo-yo, with a faint custard flavour and pale yellow colour.
- Use icing sugar, not caster, in both the biscuit and the filling. It dissolves smoothly and keeps the melt-in-the-mouth texture.
- Dip the fork in flour between presses so it lifts cleanly and leaves a neat ridged pattern.
- Passionfruit or lemon buttercream cuts the richness; for passionfruit, beat in the pulp and skip the milk.
- Store unfilled biscuits airtight for up to a week. Once sandwiched, eat within two to three days as the filling softens the biscuit.
For another buttery, sandwiched bake to keep in the tin, our caramel slice works on the same love of a short, rich base. To read more about how we test and write these recipes, see our editorial and AI policy, or browse the full collection on the home page.
Sources & references
Background reading used while developing and verifying this recipe. Quantities and timings were confirmed by our own kitchen testing.
- Edmonds Cooking, Melting moments recipe, for the traditional New Zealand biscuit proportions and method.
- Just a Mum's Kitchen, Melting moments, for guidance on the buttercream filling and shaping.
- RecipeTin Eats, Melting moments, for background on cornflour versus custard powder and the yo-yo variation.
- New Zealand food-safety guidance on home storage of butter-based biscuits at room temperature.
