Every so often I google food trends to discover what’s hip and happening across the globe. Sometimes out of pure curiosity, occasionally for inspiration. There’s the wild and whacky suggestions make me laugh out loud, and every now and then a suggestion that piques my imagination. It seems our world wide love affair with the crisp shelled macaron may just be beginning to wane.  What’s more there’s an heir apparent, the classic melting moment, waiting patiently in the wings to take the stage with a much needed make-over.

I’ve always associate melting moments with old fashioned afternoon teas. Stalwarts of many an Australian nana’s  recipe book. Meltingly delicious shortbread discs sandwiched with a lick of strawberry jam and a generous dollop of vanilla buttercream. Come to think of it, last year I must have been accidentally well ahead of trend when I posted a recipe for Passionfruit Melting Moments With A Roasted Coconut Buttercream. It certainly wasn’t by design.

This week I was lucky enough to be gifted a jar of my friend SallyAnn’s gorgeously tangy and sweet, vanilla bean scented home-made Blood Orange Marmalade. What better way to update nana’s humble melting moment than to sandwich it with a blood orange flavoured buttercream? Of course one of my favourite tipples, Cointreau, goes fabulously well with orange, so why not throw a capful of that in as well? So there we have it, my latest melting moment makeover.

Melting Moments With Blood Orange And Cointreau Buttercream
Makes 12 Filled Melting Moments

For The Melting Moments

250g butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup corn flour

PREHEAT  oven to 150 C fan-forced and line two trays with baking paper.
IN A LARGE bowl, beat together butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until light and creamy.
SIFT the flours together and add to the bowl in two batches. Stir with a wooden spoon  until the mixture is smooth.
FLOUR your hands as the dough is soft and sticky. Gently roll the mixture into 24 balls and place them on the prepared trays, spaced at least 3cm apart. I used a heaped teaspoon for each ball.
USE a floured fork to slightly flatten the top of each ball.
BAKE the biscuits for 15 minutes or until they just begin to turn golden. Rotate trays in the oven half way through asking.
LEAVE biscuits  to cool on the trays for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
SANDWICH biscuits with buttercream. Dust with icing sugar just before serving

For The Blood Orange and Cointreau Buttercream

75g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 heaped tablespoons blood orange marmalade,
1 tablespoon Cointreau

PURÉE the marmalade in a small food processor until smooth.
USE an electric mixer to beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
ADD  the puréed marmalade and Cointreau  to the buttercream mixture and continue to beat until well combined.