Scottish Butter Biscuits – What Jessica Baked Next

Delicate buttery biscuits, lightly flavoured with vanilla and rolled in a choice of oats, desiccated coconut, or crushed cornflakes. Before baking, the biscuits are then topped with a sweet glacé cherry. These traditional Scottish biscuits have a taste of nostalgia.

Melting Moments are delectable, buttery biscuits that just melt in the mouth. Made with store cupboard ingredients, these biscuits are simply divine. Best of all, there’s no chilling or rolling out the dough.

I wasn’t aware of this at first, but there are actually two types of Melting Moments. One of them I was familiar with. That is a biscuit that has custard powder added to the dough, but the version of Melting Moments that I’m sharing with you today, I didn’t realise existed.

I discovered these at work. With our small team of chefs, we discuss recipes and new bakes we want to try out. My colleague mentioned she’d eaten these biscuits at school and was keen for us to bake some.

We cracked on baking several batches and they proved to be a hit. We couldn’t resist trying some as soon as they left the oven – this is definitely the best part about baking!

As soon as I’d finished that last bite of the delicious, freshly baked biscuit, I knew I just had to share the recipe on here!

Since sharing my Easy Oat Biscuits, this recipe is the most viewed bake near enough everyday. I’ve really been happy to see many photos of the ones you’ve been baking!

I thought I’d share another easy biscuit recipe. These Melting Moments are fairly similar, but the differences are, they’re made without brown sugar and instead of mixing oats into the biscuit dough, the dough balls are simply rolled in the oats instead. Finally, each biscuit is traditionally topped with a half/or whole glacé cherry before heading to the oven for baking.

I topped some of my biscuits with more than one cherry half. I love the sweetness the little bit of cherry on top adds! If you don’t have any glacé cherries, then even a square of chocolate is a fantastic alternative.

If you fancy changing the recipe, swap the vanilla extract for almond extract instead to make a Bakewell-style biscuit, or you could even add the zest of a lemon to the dough.

These biscuits have crisp edges and a lovely cake-like texture in the centre. They’re ever so moreish, one is not enough.

Melting Moments

Delicate buttery biscuits, flavoured lightly with vanilla and rolled in a choice of oats, desiccated coconut or crushed cornflakes, then topped with a glacé cherry.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 12

Total Time 27

Servings 12

Author What Jessica Baked Next

Ingredients

200 g butter (salted or unsalted) softened
125 g caster or granulated sugar
1 medium or large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225 g self-raising flour
50 g porridge oats (rolled oats also work fine too) substitute with the same amount of desiccated coconut or crushed cornflakes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C / 160°C Fan / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Line 3 large baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy - this will take about 2 minutes to achieve.
Now add the egg and the vanilla. Mix again to combine. Now add the flour and fold through until you have a soft dough formed - don't over mix.
Place the oats, coconut or crushed cornflakes on a side plate or in a bowl. Take 50g portions of the dough and roll into even balls. Take each ball of dough and roll in the oats/coconut/cornflakes until coated well.
Evenly spread the balls of dough across the lined baking trays, allow enough room for each biscuit to spread - about 2-3cm between each. Top each ball of dough with half a glacé cherry.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the biscuits have a spread and are lightly golden around the edges. Don't worry if they appear soft, they will continue to cook as they cool on the baking trays. Allow the biscuits to cool on the baking trays for 5-10 minutes, then transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
As they cooled, I pressed a few extra pieces of halved glacé cherry on the top of a few of my biscuits. The biscuits will keep at room temperature, covered or in an airtight container for up to 3 days.