Wednesday 6 March 2013

Melting Moments - a Random Recipe

I've chosen Belleau Kitchen's Random Recipe challenge for this month for a slightly self indulgent post. Dom's challenge is titled 'Cuttings, memories and clippings' and it's the memories part that I've taken, rather than the cuttings and clippings. Dom explains the process of randomising your choice of recipe much better than I could, so go to the link if you are not familiar with this challenge.

My mother died last month and while all her family and friends were sad to lose her, we all recognised that she had given up fighting her illnesses several months ago and was ready to go, so our grief is tempered with relief that she isn't suffering any more. In the process of clearing her home, I came across the BeRo recipe book that she taught me to bake with, back in the early 1960s. It's dog-eared, stained and even scorched in places, and is barely holding together as a booklet (so probably qualifies for Dom's challenge as a collection of clippings), but it is still usable, with care. Glancing inside, I saw the recipes we made frequently were marked with pencil crosses, so decided the Random Recipe I chose would be the first marked recipe in the book. I was delighted to see that the recipe was for Melting Moments, as these, and the cornflake flapjacks (which don't seem to be on the website) are what I remember best of all.

The only difference I made to the recipe was to use butter instead of margarine; I still included the lard. I also used vanilla paste with seeds, instead of vanilla extract. I rolled the dough balls in rolled oats rather than dessicated coconut, although I have to confess that I thought they should be rolled in crushed cornflakes - another example of my notoriously poor memory, perhaps, or it might have been one of Mum's adaptations. My recipe booklet suggested marble-sized balls of dough, but I still only got 20 biscuits, rather than the 30 suggested on the website or the 40 suggested by the booklet.

These delicate little biscuits are short and crumbly, and melt in the mouth - this texture is due to the lard, I think. They are small, so are gone in a moment too, which accounts for the name! The vanilla flavour was quite intense, and the oats just gave some extra texture, rather than another flavour, as coconut would have done. These would be ideal for afternoon tea, arranged on a cake stand with other little treats.

As another self-indulgent reminiscence, I've shown these biscuits on a lone plate I found at the back of Mum's pantry, and rescued from eventually going into a skip.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

what a lovely post and a fitting tribute to your mum. I think it's a wonderful thing to be able to take memories on from people who are no longer with us... and then we can pass them on to others too so that is some way the memory of that person lives on forever... I'm always making my grandma's recipes and I hope to be making my mums recipes long after she passes too and each time I make them I will remember them with love... thank you for such a lovely entry x

Alicia Foodycat said...

These look good - not like Australian melting moments! I like that your plate has forget-me-nots on it. Very appropriate!

Suelle said...

I hadn't realised that's what the flowers are, Foodycat!

Hello said...

What a lovely post in honour of your mother and making one the bakes you used to make is quite touching. :-) x

Snowy said...

A lovely tribute to your Mum, Suelle. It's great to have memories of baking together, and I love these Melting Moments, just my kind of biscuit. A very pretty plate too.

Caroline said...

What lovely memories. I do like your idea of using oats instead of coconut. Love the cherry centre too, it's so cheering!

Jean said...

A lovely tribute to your mum.
Baking brings back such fond memories of my mum, I love using her BeRo book and her china.
I haven't made these delightful little treats for a long time, thanks for reminding me!

Suzanne said...

I am sorry for your loss. What a wonderful tribute to your Mum this recipe is - how wonderful that people get to live on through heritage like this. I loved reading this post.

Stacy Rushton said...

Your mum sounds like just my sort of woman, that is to say, the kind that bakes with her daughter. I am so sorry for your loss. How wonderful that you were able to find the very book she used when teaching you how to bake! Good memories!