Just Another Melting Moment...

Recently my Dad and I conducted a delicious little experiment.

While he was on holiday over here, visiting me, we started trying Melting Moments cookies in various cafés across Melbourne. We rated them and wrote down our ratings because I thought it would be fun to post our findings in my blog.

I think the idea started with me. I visited some friends for coffee and a chat, and one of them pulled out packet of Melting Moments from the supermarket. (I wish I had asked her which one because I haven’t been able to find them since) I don’t usually go for biscuits, (unless they are Tim-Tams, thanks to Miss V getting me hooked) but I decided to try one of those melting moments.

It was a fateful moment. A melting, delicious moment. A moment to remember.

I decided to remember it rather quickly by eating two more of those cookies. Hehe…

Anyway, this led to me deciding I wanted a Melting Moment when dad and I stopped for coffee at Pran Central on Chapel Street on his first day here. They had Monte-Carlos, which are similar, but with an extra layer, so we each had one.

I didn’t take a photo at that point because we hadn’t hit on the whole tasting and rating idea at that stage. But they were absolutely delicious. And it started our little taste test experiment.

The next day we stopped at Gloria Jeans – it has become kind of a tradition when Dad comes over to see me that we have Gloria Jeans coffee in the mornings. In any case, we decided on sampling their Melting Moments.

I asked dad how he would rate them out of 10.

Dad said he would say 7/10. I agreed.

And so it began.

In the end, I have photographs of 6 of the cookies we tried. They seem to be called Yo Yo cookies as often as they are called Melting Moments. Trying them all over Melbourne added some real fun, and some real flavour – pardon the pun – to our holiday. Our findings may not be as interesting to you as they are to us, but we had great fun with the experiment and it’s a great little memory of our holiday :D

Oh, if you’re wondering at the title of this entry – there’s an old song with the phrase ‘just another magic moment’ in the chorus. I found myself singing it each time we tried a tasty cookie – only I changed the words to ‘just another melting moment.’ Hence the title. Hee hee!

So, fanfare, drumroll…dun du du daaaaaaah! Below see our findings!

Gloria Jeans:

This cookie actually scored two ratings because we tried it about 3 times over the course of the holiday. The first two times it scored a 7/10. The third time it must have been another batch because they were even better than before, and got a score upgrade to 7.5/10!

Each time, they were deliciously crumbly and definitely melting. They were rich and smooth in my mouth and went very well with a sip of coffee after each mouthful. The biscuit part was a tiny bit too sweet, but the filling was perfect. The overall texture was melting, smooth and delicious. I liked it enough to sneak in there before the gym today and buy one. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone I was eating a cookie before the gym….

Capri Fine Chocolates

I actually took Dad to Capri for their decadent iced chocolate. Seriously, they make the best iced chocolate in the world. I love iced chocolate, but I stopped ordering it at cafés because I was tired of receiving milk and chocolate sauce in a glass and paying $5 - $6 for it. Then came the day when I went to Capri with a friend and she ordered an iced chocolate and had me try it.

One mouthful had me heading back to that café the very next day to get one for myself. And on multiple occasions since then. I actually refuse to buy iced chocolate anywhere else. I even had one at Max Brenner that didn’t even come CLOSE. (They also do a fantastic iced mocha at Capri as well.)

Anyway.

I took dad there for the iced chocolates and since they had Melting Moments, we ordered those too. Rather a rich morning treat-wise, but…well, I know I keep using this word, but…D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!!

Those melting moments scored a 7/10. I think we couldn’t do them full justice by pairing them with the sweet, rich iced chocolates. They weren’t as melting-crumbly as they should have been, and they were a little overly sweet. (Actually, if we noticed that against the chocolate taste then they may be more than a little overly sweet) but they were quite nice all the same. They didn’t really compare to the Federation Square Café cookies.

Enchanted Maze

We came across the Enchanted Maze after our visit to Heronswood, Dromana and Arthurs Seat. It was on the drive back down from Arthurs Seat. We didn’t actually go into the maze because the lady who ran it wanted $16 a person to go walking through it, which we thought was ridiculous. But she also had a café so we stopped for coffee and melting moments.

She actually had Monte Carlo’s instead but we rated those anyway.

As far as I am concerned they just don’t compare. They weren’t crumbly/melting enough. They were just like biscuits in general. And the red berry layer (or whatever it is) was too sweet. I prefer the lighter taste of filling in Melting Moments. I would only score them a 6.5/10. Dad said 7/10. I decided to list both scores because I wasn’t willing to upgrade mine. Heh.

Acland Street

If you read my blog entry about cakes on Acland street and our discovery of the Worlds Best Cherry Crumble Cake, you would also have seen how the melting moments we tried scored.

In a word – crap.

Crap crappity crap. Seriously.

The cookie was burnt and crumbled in a distasteful, burnt-toasty kind of way. They most certainly did not melt in our mouths. The filling was sickly sweet and for some bizarre reason, tasted like lemon.

This is not to say all the Melting Moments on Acland Street are that bad, but the ones from the shop we tried certainly were. I didn’t take down the shop name because their biscuits were so pathetic they didn’t merit me noticing.

We had one we took home. We threw it out because neither of us wanted to eat it.

Those lousy biscuits scored our all-time lowest score of 5/10.

Artful Dodger

Dad and I discovered Artful Dodger through Miss V. It opened up on the corner near the station a few months ago but I never stopped there for coffee because it was right near Gloria Jeans and I prefer to stick to places when I already know I like the coffee. Anyway, Miss V read about it in the Coffee Magazine and tried the coffee accordingly. At least, she attempted to. She met us at the station when she joined Dad and I to go see the ABBA exhibition in fed square. When we sat down with her with our coffees to wait for the train, she made a spectacle by accidentally knocking her coffee across the bench, herself and my dad. I managed to avoid all but a few drops and laughed my head off because that’s usually MY move. I guess my clumsiness must be contagious!  Anyway, she was pretty annoyed because – as she told us – it was really good coffee. So, dad and I took her recommendation and tried it for ourselves the next day.

May I just say, the coffee at Artful Dodger is EXCELLENT. It well earned its place in the coffee magazine and I highly recommend you try it.

Anyway, they didn’t have Melting Moments the first time we went but when we went back a few days later they did. And of course, we tried them.

Sadly, their melting moments did not score nearly as well as their coffee :(

My big complaint was the biscuit part. It was not melting. It was not crumbling. It was…doughy. Bleh. Taste wise, it was excellent. But that doughy, almost chewy texture lost it a high score. It got only a 6/10.

Federation Square Café

There is a café in the centre of Federation Square. For some reason I have still not stopped to memorise the name despite having been in the square multiple times since trying these cookies. Anyway, it’s fairly obvious. It’s the one in the centre of the square. Heh. Anyway, that café scored the highest Melting Moment score of them all!

The cookie was absolutely, positively, wonderfully delicious. They literally melted in my mouth. They were buttery, smooth and rich. The filling balanced perfectly with the biscuit and was not overpoweringly sweet. It was a small cookie, but it was so delicious it didn’t matter. Sure, I could have eaten 5 of the little beauties. But just one was still a delightfully delicious experience.

Those awesome little cookies scored an 8.5/10. (That was my score. Dad said 8/10.) No other cookie has scored so high with us yet! They…were…wonderful…

I want another one….

Well, that’s the end of our Melting Moments ratings.

But I think the experiment wont end here. Whether I will continue photographing and rating, I don’t know. But I find myself hooked on Melting Moments and I believe I will not be able to resist the chance to try them when I can, in other cafés…where untasted, unrated melting moments are waiting for me…

Waiting for me to enjoy just another melting moment….