Valentine’s heart cookie
A card, a bunch of roses or a box of chocolates are fine to give or get, of course. But is there a nicer way of saying I love you than treating someone to a freshly baked tin of romantic sugary cookies? This little Valentine’s heart cookie is my variation of the classic kifle cookie from Croatia. The dough is easy to make and form so it is not difficult to bake a batch for your sweetheart. There is no sugar in the dough for the traditional kifle cookie because the sugared walnut filling and the thick layer of icing sugar provide enough sweetness. As this little heart has no filling I kneaded some sugar into the dough. These cookies keep well, but they are far too nice and crumbly to leave them in their tin. I think I will leave them out on a pretty plate to nibble off little pieces all day.
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Valentine’s heart cookie
for about 24 cookies
160 grams (1 cup) flour
100 grams (1 stick) unsalted cold butter, cubed
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
40 grams (3 tablespoons) caster sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon raspberry jam
Quickly knead together the flour, the butter, the egg yolks, the sugar, the salt, the vanilla essence, half of the sugar, the lemon juice and the lemon rind into a ball. Press flat and wrap in cling film. Leave to rest in the fridge for 2 hours, or preferably 1 night.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Divide the dough in pieces of 20 grams. Roll out each piece into a 20cm thin roll. Roll through the rest of the sugar and pinch together the ends to form a circle.
Hold one side in of the circle down and turn the other side over to form an 8. Make one circle smaller than the other and flip the small circle to the middle. Arrange into a heart.
Place the hearts on a cookie sheet covered with baking paper and dab a little bit of raspberry jam in the middle of each cookie. Sprinkle on any left over sugar. Bake the cookies for 10-15 mins. in the middle of the oven until light golden and done. Leave them to cool on the cookie sheet.
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