Cardamom and Orange Melting Moments Cookies with Chocolate Truffle Filling

Smooth, buttery, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth, Cardamom & Orange Melting Moments cookies with Chocolate Truffle Filling are some of the most delicious cookies that I’ve ever tasted! Easy to make, perfect for gift-giving or as a snack to satisfy your craving.

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The very first recipe that I shared on this blog when I launched it last year was a recipe for Mexican wedding cookies, also known as Snowballs. They are delightfully soft, crumbly and nutty cookies, generously coated with powdered sugar, with an amazing melt-in-your-mouth consistency. Today, I’m going to share the recipe for one of their cousins – the magnificent Melting Moments Cookies! As the name suggests, they too literally melt-in-your-mouth. They are a type of shortbread cookie that’s smooth, buttery, crumbly and honestly, one of the most delicious and satisfying that I’ve ever tasted.

What makes Melting Moments different from shortbread cookies?

I’ve previously shared a comprehensive recipe post on my buttery, crumbly shortbread cookies, plus several other shortbread related cookie recipes such as this chocolate shortbread cookies, espresso shortbread cookies, chocolate chip & cranberry shortbread cookies, millionaires shortbread cookie bars, and even these rhubarb crumble bars.

What makes these shortbread cookies lighter, crumblier, and melt in your mouth soft is the addition of cornstarch. They are also super easy to make and very popular around Christmas (I often pair these with my classic linzer cookies, ginger cookies, and even these fudgy brownie cookies in cookie boxes that I give out to friends during the holidays). These are fantastic any time of the year, really. But seriously, I cannot imagine nibbling on something more delicious than this, with a hot mug of coffee or cocoa or a cup of tea in your hands.

Honestly, I don’t think I could choose between Mexican wedding cookies, shortbread cookies or melting moments. They are all so damn tasty, and even better, they serve as a beautiful canvas for some truly fantastic flavour bending. Whenever I’ve had melting moments cookies in the past, they have always had a classic flavour like lemon or chocolate. But for this recipe, I wanted a little bit of a warm spicy kick, so I went with a flavour combo that works well together – Cardamom and Orange. The subtle, fragrant flavour of orange and the spicy warmth of cardamom make these cookies absolutely irresistible!

But wait, I didn’t stop there. I made a cookie sandwich with a dark chocolate truffle filling in the center. 🙂 Forget about chocolate chip cookies and milk, THIS is what you should leave out for Santa this year. Some Cardamom and Orange Melting Moments Cookies with Chocolate Truffle Filling. And replace that milk with a cup of coffee. After all, the plump bugger deserves it. He’s got rounds to make, presents to deliver and chimney chutes to climb down, you know.

You can of course choose not to sandwich these cookies and that’s completely acceptable, although I’m not sure we could really be friends after that. But really, how can you say no to TWO delicate, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth cookies with a creamy, chocolate truffle filling in the middle? That’s not a rhetorical question by the way. I’m serious, I really don’t know how.

What makes Melting Moments different from Mexican wedding cookies?

Melting moments have no nuts in them. These are closer to shortbread cookies, although traditional shortbread does not have cornstarch. Having said that, more modern shortbread cookie recipes tend to include cornstarch, for the same reason that melting moments have them – to make them lighter and crumblier.

Melting moments can also be piped onto a baking sheet. In Australia, you will often find these cookies piped in rosette shape, as well as round ones like I’ve done in this post.

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5 from 2 votes

Cardamom and Orange Melting Moments Cookies with Chocolate Truffle Filling

Author: Dini K.

Servings: 19 - 20 individual cookies (10 sandwiched)

Print Rate

Ingredients:

Cardamom Orange Melting Moments Cookies

• ▢ 5.3 oz / 150g AP flour
• ▢ 1.7 oz / 50g cornstarch
• ▢ 5.3 oz / 150g good-quality unsalted butter
• ▢ 2.6 oz / 75g icing sugar
• ▢ ½ tsp ground cardamom seeds of about 12 pods, crushed
• ▢ Zest of 1 large orange
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ Generous pinch of salt

Chocolate Truffle Filling

• ▢ 5.3 oz / 150g semi-sweet chocolate
• ▢ 2 oz / 57g whipping cream measure weight using a scale
• ▢ 1 tbsp butter softened
• ▢ 0.7 oz / 20g strong brewed coffee or water or alcohol of choice (rum, whiskey, brandy)

Instructions:

Melting Moments Cookies

• Place the butter, salt and icing sugar in a bowl and beat until the mix is creamy and fluffy.
• Add the cardamom, orange zest and vanilla extract and mix well.
• Sift the AP flour and cornstarch together into a separate bowl. Add the sifted dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mix in two batches, mixing gently with a wooden spoon or spatula after each addition. Following the second addition, mix until a soft dough is formed.
• Refrigerate the dough for about 15 - 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C, and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Take the chilled dough and roll it into 1 inch balls and place them on the tray with about 2 inches of space between each. Press down gently on each with a fork (please see GIF above).
• Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the edges start to turn light golden in colour.
• Remove from oven and let them cool for a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool down completely. Leave until the truffle filling is ready, OR serve as is with a light dusting of icing sugar.

Chocolate Truffle Filling (make this while the cookies are baking and cooling)

• Place the chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate) in a glass bowl.
• Heat the cream and brewed coffee in a saucepan until it starts to steam and is just under the boiling point. Pour this over the chocolate, cover the bowl and let it rest for about 1 minute.
• Gently mix the cream and chocolate together to create a smooth ganache. If any unmelted chocolate pieces are remaining, microwave this in 15-20 second bursts, mixing in between to get a smooth mix.
• Add the softened butter and stir through until the butter is completely melted. Set aside for the chocolate mix to come down to room temperature. It will thicken as it does so. Set aside until you are ready to fill the cookies.
• When the cookies are ready to be filled, and the chocolate mix has thickened and is at room temperature - use a spoon to mix this very quickly (in a whipping motion). This should agitate the chocolate mix and thicken it further, and the colour will change from dark brown to slightly less dark brown.
• Fit a pastry bag with a large round tip pastry tip and spoon the chocolate inside the bag. Pipe one cookie with truffle filling and place another cookie on top and squeeze together (Please see GIF above). Store in an air-tight container.
• Optional - dust with icing sugar and cardamom powder.

“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

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All I can say about these cookies is that they are some of the best I’ve ever had. Buttery, crumbly, with just the right amount of sweetness, oh-so soft, with the wonderfully fresh flavour combo of orange and cardamom. The chocolate truffle filling lends a nice bitter sweetness to the cookie as well.

These are fantastic to bake during the holidays, great for gift-giving, or for a late-afternoon tea party, or just to whip up a batch to satisfy a craving. And it’s impossible to stop eating them at one. Or two. I guarantee it. 🙂

I definitely recommend having a well-deserved moment for yourself during these holidays (or on any given weekend) with one of these melting moments, with a nice cup of tea or coffee (spiked with some rum too maybe? yes? no? or is that just me?), while lounging in your favourite spot in the house. Mmmm, picture-perfect.

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