""Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in bed."

Love those girly gatherings that come with holidays. Time to drink some bubbles, snack on some high tea delicacies and discuss all things gossip and MEN! Of course also lamenting the end of these lovely two relaxing weeks. That was my afternoon today at a friend's house,  nestled in the hinterland, with a beautiful view of the mountains and rain coming in from their verandah.

We each brought a 'plate,' and so I made some melting moment biscuits, Julia's recipe from Masterchef. They turned out beautiful- the shortbread was crumbly and buttery, made my own raspberry jam which was sweet and red in colour.  You can see it oozing in the picture. Butter cream was easy and so was the assembly of it. They tasted delicious so I won't be buying these from stores again. First time cooking biscuits and first success. 


Try them and take them into work. You will be a star!!!

Biscuits

• 180g unsalted butter
• 60g icing sugar, sifted
• 60g custard powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 180g plain flour

Vanilla buttercream

• 100g butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 1 cupicing sugar, sifted

Raspberry jam

• 250g fresh or frozen raspberries
• 250g caster sugar
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• ½ teaspoon gelatine powder
• Icing sugar, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

2. For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add icing sugar and custard powder and mix until combined. Sift the baking powder and flour together then add to the dough and mix well. Roll dough into 40g balls, place on a baking paper lined baking tray and press each ball with a fork to leave an indent. Bake biscuits for 16-18 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays 5 minutes to cool then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. For buttercream, whisk butter and vanilla until smooth. Add icing sugar and beat until mixture forms a paste, the consistency of thick icing. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle.

4. For jam, place raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Mix gelatine powder with one tablespoon cold water together. Remove the jam from the heat, stir through gelatine mixture. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool in the fridge.

5. To assemble, place a spoonful of cooled jam on the base of half the biscuits. Pipe buttercream in a circle onto the base of the other half of the biscuits. Gently press one of each biscuit together to form a melting moment. Dust with icing sugar before serving.