Valentines Special: Vanilla Hearts ♡

♡ Vanilla Heart Cookies ♡

Valentines Day is just around the corner, it's tomorrow! So I thought I might as well celebrate by writing not only my first valentines post but also my first baking one. I love to bake and these biscuits seem to go down so well at my house so I decided to share the recipe with you. These cute festive heart shaped treats are so easy to make and are perfect as a gift to a loved one. You could even switch up the colour to make them red and pink but I like to keep things simple and sweet. 

This recipe will make 10 - 12 cookies.

To make these you will need:

125 grams of caster sugar, plus extra for dusting

   225 grams of plain flour, plus extra for rolling out

  150 grams of unsalted butter cut into small cubes,

plus extra for greasing

     1-2 tsp of vanilla extract, depending on how vanilla

tasting you want them

You will also need some equipment:
           A large mixing bowl
     A wooden spoon
            A heart cookie cutter
A baking tray
A rolling pin

The last two I forgot to include in the photo.

Begin by preheating your oven to 180°c / 350°f / gas mark 4. Then lightly grease your baking tray/s with your extra butter. I used two baking trays for this recipe.

Then sift your flour into your mixing bowl and add the butter. Begin rubbing the mixture with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. This may take a while, just make sure there are no lumps of butter left.

Once you have it looking similar to mine, go ahead and stir in the caster sugar and vanilla extract with your wooden spoon. Only add 1tsp of vanilla at the moment.

Once it is sticking start getting your hands in there to form a firm dough, this make take a while to get going. Now is the time to add more vanilla if you want it, this will help to form the dough a bit better if yours is looking dry. You will be able to smell how good the dough is at this point but try and resist eating it until its baked. You will know the dough is done because the bowl will be clean and it won't be sticking to the sides.

Now is the time to sift some flour onto a work surface and start rolling your dough out with a rolling pin. Roll it until it's the thickness you're happy with. I like mine about 1 - 1.5cm thick. If you want them more chunky then just roll it out thicker, these will take slightly longer to bake.

Once it's all rolled out, dust some flour onto your cutter and start cutting out your hearts. Keep re-rolling the dough until all the dough is used up, or most of it. 

 

Place them on your greased baking tray and pop them into the top shelf of your preheated oven for about 12 minutes. Keep an eye on them because if they are thicker they will take longer, and any thinner then they will need less time. You will know when they are done when they start to go golden. Don't worry if they still feel soft to touch as this will give them a softer, more cookie like texture in the middle.

Once baked, place on a cooling rack and sprinkle on your left over caster sugar. You can either leave them to cool, but I can't resist them when they are still warm.

Enjoy!

Have a Happy Valentines Day!

XOXO