Melting Moments (Butter Cookies) – Deliciously soft, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookies that are infused with vanilla, super easy to make, and only requires 6 simple ingredients!
Why you’ll love this recipe
Melting Moments (also known as butter cookies or even cornstarch cookies) are unleavened cookies consisting of butter, flour, and sugar. They are wonderfully buttery and melt-in-your-mouth.
My butter cookies are eggless, and uses more cornflour/cornstarch than flour, resulting in such a soft, delicate crumb.
These cookies are absolutely perfect on their own, but if desired, you can fill them with buttercream or chocolate ganache and sandwich them together.
These cookies are so quick and easy to make, and only requires 6 simple ingredients you probably already have at home. Trust me, you won’t be able to stop at just one cookie!
Looking for more easy cookies to make? See my Coffee Thumbprint Cookies, Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies, and my Russian Tea Cakes.
Ingredients you’ll need
Here’s a list of ingredients you’ll need to make these cookies. You can find my recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list with their amounts.
- Unsalted butter: You’ll want this partly melted. Just add it to a microwave-safe bowl and heat until the butter is just about half melted.
- Vanilla extract: If desired, you can use any flavour you want!
- Icing/powdered sugar: Using icing sugar instead of caster or granulated sugar makes for a more soft, delicate cookie.
- Cornflour/cornstarch: We’re using more cornflour than flour in this recipe to achieve a wonderfully soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Plain/all-purpose flour
- Salt
How to make Melting Moments (Butter Cookies)
To make these cookies, simply whisk together the butter, vanilla extract, and icing sugar until creamy and combined.
Add the cornflour, flour, and salt, and mix to form a smooth, soft (not at all sticky) dough.
Roll the dough into small 0.7oz balls, and place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Press them down lightly with the tines of a fork.
Freeze for about 10 – 20 minutes or until the cookie dough is solid. This will help prevent the cookies from spreading – they’ll bake up thick and retain their shape. (Bear in mind the cookies in the recipe video were not baked from frozen, and they did spread and flattened out a little.)
TIP: Before baking, you can top the cookies with a few of your desired sprinkles, making these perfect for any festive season!
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until firm and just starting to colour around the edges (they will still be VERY pale). Allow to cool for 5 – 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
The printable recipe card with the full list of ingredients, their measurements, and instructions can be found at the bottom of this post.
NOTE: For best results, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup measurements. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough, and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
These Melting Moments Cookies are:
- incredibly quick and easy to throw together
- super soft, buttery, delicate, and melt-in-your-mouth
- infused with a hint of vanilla
- made with only 6 simple ingredients
- perfect for sharing and gift-giving
How long will these butter cookies last? These cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Can I freeze these cookies? Yes! They also freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving. Allow them to come to room temperature if desired.
If you prefer freshly-baked cookies every time, you can keep the cookie dough balls, shaped, in the fridge for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen.
Tried this recipe?
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and hashtag it #simplybakeblog. I’d love to see!
Try these delicious cookies next!
- Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter & Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Orange Slice ‘n’ Bake Cookies
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Melting Moments (Butter Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, partly melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (93g) icing/powdered sugar
- 1 ½ cups (187g) cornflour/cornstarch
- 1 cup (125g) plain/all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat, and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter, vanilla, and sugar until creamy and combined.
- Add the cornflour, flour, and salt, and mix to form a smooth, soft dough.
- Roll the dough into small 0.7oz balls, and place them onto the prepared baking tray. Press them down with the tines of a fork. Freeze until solid – about 10 – 20 minutes.
- Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until firm and just starting to colour around the edges (they’ll still be very pale). Allow to cool for 5 – 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
im sure its a lovely recepie. but i had a flop of all flops with this recipie lol i was left with hollow cookies that tasted of raw flour i have no idea what i did wrong ive never seen anything like i was left with i wish i could add a pic to share my hilarious flop i will give it a day and try again and hope i get it right lol
Hi. I will like to bake some melting moments for the coming festive celebration. However, I do not have freezer space to freeze the cookies before baking. Hence, can I bake the cookies directing without freezing them? Please advise. Thank you
Yes you can. Enjoy!
Hi! I like this recipe very much! Can I use all cornstarch and no flour to make it gluten free? In that case, should I add 125 more grams of cornstarch? Or is it a different quantity? Thanks a lot!
Thank you for this amazing recipe… made these today and the whole fam love loves it!
Hi Marsha
I tried your recipe about 3 years back. It came out very nicely. I’m going to make again in two days time. Will let you know how it comes. Thank you so much.
Nirmala K
When you say: 1 and 1/2 cups (187g) cornflour/cornstarch, do you mean masa corn flour? I am sorry but I am unsure exactly what to use. I have masa and cornstarch.
Hi Laura! Use the cornstarch. We call that cornflour in the UK 🙂
Marsha, Thank you for the information! I can’t wait to try them!
I made melting moments they are absolutely delicious.
Dough wouldn’t come together for me. It was very crumbly and though it held shape once I rolled into balls, it wouldn’t press out properly without crumbling.
I attempted recipe twice and measured/weighed ingredients both times. I agree with another post that wrote recipe might work better if there were less cornstarch or flour or more butter.
This looks close to the butter cookie recipe that was on my corn starch box over 30 yrs ago.
I can’t wait to make them and find out! The measurements seem a little off though. 125g of all-purpose flour is only 3/4 cup, not a full cup.
Is the recipe supposed to call for 1.5 cups of cornstarch? Someone below commented that it is doubled, and I notice that this recipe is doubled from the recipe I typically use. Regardless, I decided to give it a try because of all of the positive reviews! Cookies are in the freezer, but they crack if you touch the dough and cannot be rolled at all.
Hi Kelly! I do supply cup measurements for my US readers, but I always recommend using the gram measurements with a digital scale for complete accuracy.
Did you manage to roll and shape the dough before freezing them?
Hi, made these for the second time today, much better effort with less spread. I used Birds custard powder instead of cornflour which give them a really creamy taste and they smell awesome. 25mins in the freezer, 20 mins at 160 fan. Lovely
I’ve tried this recipe as I was craving for some buttery goodness during chinese new year. It was so good! Used corn flour instead of cornstarch. Best if you eat within the next day as it will form cracks after a day or two. Easy process, enjoyed making and eating these. Thanks Marsha!
I didn’t freeze but cut the time down and kept checking. They were/are a dusty mess. Very dry and very crumbly. Seems like they needed a lot more butter or less cornstarch/flour. Loved the ease of the recipe, just not a fan of the end product. I did weigh the ingredients…
The dough just cracks … how do I fix this?
To prevent cracks, you can try freezing for less time, or even not at all. They’ll spread a little more in the oven than if you did freeze them.
Hi thanks a lot for this beautiful recipe I tried it it was super
Hi thanks for biscuit recipe, just made it now. Mine also cracked here and there, but not all. Just got to be careful.
I made the cookies today and they taste great. However, there are cracks on the cookies. I only baked them for 17mins. Can you advise me ? Thanks
I get slight cracks on the edges, too. It’s completely fine.
Hello, When you print this recipe there is an error. The corn starch says double of what you need for one batch of this recipe.
Hmm, it works fine for me. Have you tried it through different browsers?
I have tried, it’s awesome.