Since I discovered Pinterest I can look through it for hours on end pinning everything and anything. Making different boards for the different topics I like. So when Valentine's Day started to get mentioned everywhere - I instantly created a board and started pinning recipes that I found and the odd quote and present ideas.
I looked through so many recipes and wanted to make a few but I also wanted to build on some simple recipes I've done before on this blog first. You may recall months ago I did a very simple (4 ingredient) shortbread recipe. You can find it HERE.
The finished product from my first recipe gives you shortbread in the form of circles with a sprinkle of caster sugar. So I thought for Valentines I would do heart shapes and add an icing topping. So after ordering some cookie cutters from Ebay (and waiting for them to come) I got to work in the kitchen experimenting with different sizes and icing and sprinkles.
The 'new' finished product is shown above in the picture. They were really fun to make and I love testing and trying out new ways of doing things. I will pop the recipe below - it is really not much different to my first recipe.
Recipe:
1. You will want to follow my previous recipe (which can be found HERE).
2. When you get to step 4 (tipping the dough onto the surface and dividing into two pieces) you will want to stop there.
3. Instead of rolling the dough into sausage shapes - you will just get a rolling pin and roll the dough into your desired thickness (remember your the cook - if you want thicker biscuits don't roll so thin and if you want thinner biscuits keep the dough thin).
4. Using your cookie heart cutters - cut, cut, cut and lay on a non-stick baking tray.
5. Again depending on how think/thin - the cooking time will vary but mine normally take between 10-16 minutes (you will also need to think how pale or brown you want them).
6. Once baked - transfer from the baking tray to a wire cooling rack (I use my grill shelf - if you don't have a designated cooling rack)
7. Let them cool - before icing they need to be cold otherwise the icing won't set and will run everywhere.
8. Once cooled - get some icing sugar and add a little water - you don't want it to be runny - you want it to be like a paste (think peanut butter or Nutella spreading consistency).
9. Get a glass of warm water and put a spoon in it to heat the spoon up.
10. Get a little of the icing and put it in the middle of the biscuit. Getting the warm spoon - use the back of it and spread the icing out over the biscuit.
11. Once you have iced - sprinkle whatever you want to sprinkle - I bought some little candy hearts that were on sale in Tesco.
12. Let the icing set and then put into an air-tight container.
13. When bored or watching television - eat them!
Let me know if you tried the recipe or if you made anything similar. I'm always on the look out for new recipes so if you think there is anything I should try let me know!
