Wednesday 5 September 2012

Melting Moments-My Foodie Ode to Masterchef


There are certain things that come into our lives and  change our outlook and perspective completely. We suddenly start viewing things in a different light and analyze even the minutest detail. I am sure there are a zillion things creeping in your mind  that perfectly fits this bill.
What I am referring to is about the famous television cooking game show called 'Masterchef', a franchise which first started with the UK version of the show in 1990. The show is now produced in more than 35 countries worldwide!
Well, my tryst with Masterchef began by viewing its most famous Australian version. My story is like most of yours and I got hooked to the show instantly. Needless to mention that our little family is glued to the television everyday between 9-10 pm ( that is basically me and my husband Vishal as Vaanya our daughter all of 15 months is too young to understand or join our madness !)

Masterchef has aspired and enlightened us with the way we look at everyday food and it has made us talk and criticise about enough portions and presentations like seasoned chefs. Suddenly our foodie vocabulary has become full of unheard culinary words and food as a whole is being celebrated like never before. 
As a foodie family me and my husband have found our common love for cooking, experimenting and serving food through this amazing TV show. We discuss and debate over the finesse of the food presentation and aspire to recreate the same in our kitchen.


I have been bookmarking some recipes for the longest time but never tried them. The urge to start one and dig into my saved recipes from the Masterchef series came when one beautiful day I got an invitation from Anuja who is an avid Baker and has an amazing blog site simple baking. She is co-hosting an amazing event called Cook like a star-Masterchef series with Zoe@Bake for the Happy Kids and Baby Sumo@Eat Your Heart Out

The first recipe that came to my mind were these yummies called Melting Moments. They are basically two crispy biscuits sandwiched with rasberry jam and vanilla buttercream. The name itself speaks volumes. These biscuits simply melt in your mouth and keeps you mesmerized with their taste.
Today being Teachers day in India, this was a perfect recipe as an ode to a show which has been more of a teacher and a great inspiration to enjoy everyday cooking. 



Recipe adapted from here. I have halved the recipe and reduced the size of the biscuits.

Ingredients: For Biscuits(makes 4 sandwiched biscuits)
  • 90g unsalted butter
  • 30g icing sugar, sifted(or powdered sugar)
  • 30g custard powder(I used Vanilla custard powder)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 90g plain flour
For Vanilla buttercream
  • 50g butter, softened
  • 1 tspvanilla bean paste/vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cupicing sugar, sifted(or powdered sugar)
I used readymade rasberry jam for the filling. You can try other flavours too.



Procedure:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line oven tray with baking paper or grease with a little butter.
For biscuits, cream butter for two minutes in an electric mixer. 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 30g balls, place on the 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.
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.

To assemble, place jam on the base of one half of 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.


Note: The biscuits could have been thinner so next time I will make them weighing 20 gm or lesser.

Happy Baking
Amrita

Sending this recipe to Cook like a star co-hosted by Anuja@simple baking


 to Bake fest#11 with Vardhini

and to FunFair Food Event

21 comments:

  1. Hi Amrita,
    So glad you decided to join us in this blog hop and that too with a stunner :D. Very well made and the filling sounds delish! No need to be thinner I guess, coz Julia's MM's looked same.
    The facial expressions of Gary Mehigan is frozen in my mind when he tasted Julia's Melting Moments. He was all ummmmmmmm.
    Bearing that in mind I made these a couple of days back but sadly I found them to be too doughy or floury. I dont know what I did wrong but it had a floury aftertaste of cornflour. I wonder if that was so with your MMs too?
    HAppy Baking!
    Anuja

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anuja. Its such a pleasure to join this amazing blog hop. Have been waiting to find the right recipe to start with. So glad you liked them and well, mine weren't doughy(I guess it was baker's luck) They were really true to its name ...melted away.
      Have more recipes in store to try and link:):) Hope I get them right.
      Happy Baking to you too:D
      Amrita

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Hi Archana, thanks for liking them. Wish I could send them to you right away but if you are ever in Kolkata ,do feel free to drop in.
      You have a lovely blogsite. Pleasure to join your event.

      Delete
  3. Amrita melting moments looks delicious. I love your admiration towards masterchef and creating recipes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Swathi, thanks for liking my MM'S!! Oh! I am a true Masterchef fan like so many of us and these were just made to try and see how they turn out ..came out exceedingly well..more than I expected:):)

      Delete
  4. Hi Amrita,

    What a co-incidence that we are baking the same recipe and submitted our links both at about the same time! Your melting moments looks fantastic and you must enjoying lots of nice moments eating these delicious biscuits. Nice to have you participating our blog hop :D

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Zoe,
      Talk about Co-incidence!! But oh my dear yours are so drool worthy...loved the pics. And the best part is that you made the raspberry jam .. we do not get this fruit in India so I had to do with readymade jam .I even found the weight of each biscuit a little too much. Nevertheless had lotsa fun making and eating them..no wonder they were over in no time ..melted away!!
      (Loved the event that you guys are holding esp this series !!)
      Amrita

      Delete
  5. Hi Amrita,
    Thank for joining us in Cook Like a MasterChef. As I mentioned on Zoe's blog, I have also bookmarked this recipe and I am happy to see that you give it your approval too. So I really have to make it now... btw I was also planning to use ready-bought jam since fresh raspberries arent the easiest to get around here.

    I was also a huge fan of the original MasterChef UK and would always be glued to the TV for that 30 mins of the day! Hope to see more of yr MasterChef recipes this month ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      Its such a pleasure to join this awesome event and get to cook longtime bookmarked recipes. Even more glad to see we are all on the same page where recipes are concerned :):)Zoe has done an incredible job with her MM's and mine turned out good too. So, definitely you must try them soon. I used readymade jam myself and it was good. I found the size a little too big to dig into ..so you may try and make with smaller portion. Anyways its a winner recipe.
      Happy to join you guys fro the incredible event.Can't wait to cook up the next one !!
      Amrita

      Delete
  6. This looks absolutely delicious! It's certainly making me pretty hungry for tea time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Mich.Thanks for loving these devils !! Got a chance to check out your lovely posts too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Melting moments stand true to their name...Awesome yummies. I have seen some recipes of MM but bookmarked this one...
    I would have missed this event if not for your post..:))
    Thanks ..
    Reva

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Reva, thanks for stopping by and liking my little 'devils'!!:):) Cook like a star is such a fun event. Do join us.
    Loved your blogsite completely..pleasure knowing you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yummy, they look so soft and delicious and I like rasberry jam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, thanks for dropping by and yes they were really awesome with the jam and vanilla buttercream.

      Delete
  11. Mmmmm, very lovely. They look like they will give you a comforting hug in the mouth (!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a sweet description Nilanjana...yes they are very very comforting!!

      Delete
  12. Hi Amrita,

    Melting moments are stunning!!!!! Great work...
    Check my recipes in my blog http://myworldmyhome2012.blogspot.in when u find time.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Melting moment makes me hungry and delicious. Very attractive biscuit. You cook just like a perfect chef.


    Cuisine Delights
    "My Monthly Event - Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation "

    ReplyDelete

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