When I think of the holidays I have fond memories of baking cookies with my Mom. We would open up the “cookie factory” out of my Mom’s kitchen every Christmas, pumping out a huge assortment of our favorite cookies. When I got married to my husband his favorite cookies were Melting Moments. They were a cookie that his Grandma had made, his mother had made, and a family staple. I had never heard of them! Of course, since they were his favorite I had to learn how to master making them. This is his Grandma’s Melting Moments Cookies Recipe which produces a delicious cookie that is delicate and melts in your mouth as the name implies. The secret to the melting, delicate flavor is in sifting your ingredients to achieve a silky texture. It’s not as hard as it sounds though and anyone can do it!
Begin by creaming one cup of butter and gradually beating in powdered sugar. Then slowly sift in corn starch and flour and mix well.
Next chill in the fridge for an hour. If you live in the frozen tundra like I do (Northern Minnesota), then take advantage of that bone-chilling cold weather and stick your bowl outside for ten minutes. They will be chilled by then 🙂 Hey, the cold has to be good for something right?!
Then form small, bite size balls and smash them down just a little with your fingers so they are slightly flat, instead of ball shaped. Put them on a parchment lined cookie sheet or use a Silpat mat like I do (LOVE my Silpat mat!). Then bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until bottoms just start to turn brown and tops of cookies aren’t doughy feeling anymore.
While the cookies are baking, start making your frosting. Use McCormick food colors and Pure Vanilla Extract to make the simple frosting recipe.
Combine melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together to make frosting.
Then add red McCormick food coloring to one bowl and green McCormick food coloring to the other bowl and mix well. My husband’s family always colors their frosting very light so they are more of a pastel red and green. I prefer a little more bold red and green coloring which always makes my cookies stand out from the rest!
Once your cookies have cooled, frost the tops of them and let them dry.
Store in an airtight container or freeze. They freeze very well so you can make them ahead and pull them out the day you need them!
Print the recipe off below or pin this post to easily find it later!
Sarah | Must Have Mom
Melting Moments cookies melt in your mouth as the silky layers dissolve.
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Servings 36
Ingredients
1cupbuttersoftened
1/3cuppowdered sugarsifted
3/4cupcorn starchsifted
1 1/3cupfloursifted
Frosting
2Tbspmelted butterdivided in half in 2 bowls (mix your frosting in two bowls and then color it so you have red and green frosting)
1cuppowdered sugardivided in half
1tspMcCormick pure vanilla extractdivided in half
3tspmilkdivided in half (or enough to thin frosting for spreading)
McCormick Food Coloring
Instructions
Cream butter and gradually beat in the powdered sugar (sifted).
Then sift in corn starch and flour gradually, mixing as you add.
Chill one hour in fridge.
Remove from fridge and form small, bite size balls.
Place on parchment lined cookie sheet (or use Silpat mat) and smash down slightly so they are flat and not ball shaped.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until just starting to brown on the bottom and so the tops no longer feel doughy.
Mix together the frosting ingredients in two separate bowls.
Add red food coloring to one bowl and green food coloring to the other bowl and mix well.
Frost cookies once they are cooled.
Store in an airtight container or freeze for later.
In 2014,McCormickmarks its 125th anniversary by celebrating the role flavor plays in all of our lives, inspiring flavorful conversation, and giving back to communities around the world. For every story shared on any ofMcCormick’s brand websites or social channels,McCormickwill donate $1, up to $1.25 million, to United Way to help feed those in need.
My Melting Moments were featured over at A Southern Mother. Grab some more great Christmas cookie recipes in her Cookie Exchange post!
TIP - you want your cookies to still be pale when baked so make sure the oven is not too hot. A too hot oven will result in cookies cracking and browning too much. Leave biscuits to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will firm on cooling.
Their treats are also sold at approximately 200 stores throughout Michigan, including Quality Dairy and 7-Eleven locations. And you'll still find Melting Moments treats for sale at the East Lansing Art Festival every year.
Room temperature butter is just the right consistency to incorporate air when it's creamed with sugar. These trapped air pockets result in risen, fluffy cookies. If the butter is any warmer, it won't incorporate enough air and your cookies will have less rise.
Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies. Why use melted butter? Melted butter creates cookies with a different texture compared to cookies made with softened or creamed butter.
If your biscuits are spreading too far in the oven, the dough was too warm or possibly too much butter was added. If the dough is very warm or you are baking on a hot day, place the rolled and flattened biscuits on a tray in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up before baking.
Contains Gluten, Wheat, Milk, Soy. May Contain Egg, Almond, Hazelnut, Macadamia, Pecan, Pistachio, Walnut. Storage Keep Frozen<-18C. Thaw and Store ambient <25C and use within 84 days.
Ice cream contains tiny ice crystals that are surrounded by air cells and fat globules. As temperatures rise, these ice crystals melt and the structure is destabilized, which we call melting. The warmer the temperature, the more quickly the ice crystals melt, and the more melting we see.
Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.
Butter keeps cookies fluffy in two ways. First, creaming cold butter with sugar creates tiny, uniform air pockets that will remain in the dough it bakes up. Second, cold butter naturally takes a longer time to melt in the oven.
A cookie made with extra egg yolk (or, in this case, only egg yolk), will be lighter and chewier than a cookie made with whole eggs. The cookies will also have a richer flavor thanks to the added fat in egg yolk.
Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.
Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.
When dough doesn't have enough water, or if it's not properly hydrated (more on that below), it will feel and look dry and be prone to cracking. Not good. See the video above for an example of properly hydrated dough.
Issues with cracking usually derive from the sugar coating, not enough or expired baking powder or baking soda, or the oven temperature isn't hot enough. Solution: Granulated sugar is more effective at drying the surface than powdered sugar.
If the dough was too dry it can form a crust too early before it's had time to rise, then when it begins to rise it forms cracks which then burst in odd places when the pressure builds up. Steam is important in this stage of baking of some breads like sourdoughs so it's a good thing to try and use steam.
Introduction: My name is Horacio Brakus JD, I am a lively, splendid, jolly, vivacious, vast, cheerful, agreeable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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