Valentine Sweethearts Recipes

SWEETHEART CUP COOKIES FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

Steps:

• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
• Beat sugar and butter together in a separate bowl using a mixer at low speed. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract. Beat in flour until just blended and press together by hand into a dough. Divide dough into 4 equal portions and flatten each into a disk. Wrap disks individually in plastic and refrigerate 8 hours to overnight.
• Remove 2 disks of dough from the refrigerator; keep remaining dough in the refrigerator or freezer for future use.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray 36 mini muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
• Roll 1 rounded teaspoon of dough into a ball and press into the bottom and up the sides of a mini muffin cup to form a shell. Repeat with remaining dough to make 36 shells.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, beat peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, and butter together in a bowl using an electric mixer until creamy. Pour filling into a pastry bag or a resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off.
• Remove from the oven and press the end of a wooden spoon into each cookie cup to reshape. Cool 2 minutes in the pan, then carefully transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Fill each cooled cookie cup with about 1 tablespoons filling. Top each with 1 chocolate kiss candy.

NUTTY SWEETHEARTS

Steps:

• Grease cookie sheet and insides of two or more heart-shaped cookie cutters 4 inches long and 2 inches deep. Place cutters on cookie sheet, set aside.
• In large bowl, combine cereal, chocolate chips, marshmallows, candied cherries and pecans, set aside.
• In small heavy saucepan over very low heat, stir white chocolate and shortening until melted and smooth. Remove from heat, cool slightly. Pour chocolate mixture over mixture in bowl, stir gently to coat completely.
• Using greased fingers, press about 2/3 cup mixture firmly and evenly into each prepared cutter on cookie sheet to thickness of up to 3/4 inch. Refrigerate 30 minutes until firm. Depending on number of molds available, you may have to work in batches. Keep unused mixture at room temperature between batches.
• To unmold: Run wide metal spatula under cutters to loosen from cookie sheet. Using fingers, gently push each sweetheart free of the cutter.

VALENTINE SWEETHEARTS

Steps:

• You will also need: one small and one very small heart-shaped cutter.
• Sift the icing sugar in a bowl, add the caster and the almonds, mix well.
• Make a hollow and add the condensed milk, mix with a spoon first then use your hands, mix until smooth.
• Divide in half and add food color to one batch mixing the color well.
• Wrap both in plastic and put in the fridge for half an hour.
• Sprinkle icing sugar on a clean work surface, roll out the pink almond dough until approx 1/2 inch thick.
• Cut out hearts with the larger cutter, re-using and cutting the scraps, use more icing sugar if needed.
• Then use the small cutter to cutout hearts from the middles of the big hearts, I use a blunt stick to push the small hearts out of the cutter.
• Do the same with the un-colored almond dough and try to get the same number of hearts.
• Gently push the small cream hearts in the big pink ones and pink in the cream ones.
• Smooth or flatten if needed.
• Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper and put the hearts on there to dry overnight.
• Store in an airtight tin.