Walnut Chocolate Hearts Recipes

WALNUT CHOCOLATE HEARTS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool 15 minutes. Stir in egg. , Combine flour, cocoa and salt; add to butter mixture. Fold in walnuts. Cover and chill 30 minutes or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake 9-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks to cool., For topping, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Dip half of each heart into chocolate mixture; allow excess to drip off. Dip edges of dipped side into ground walnuts. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set.

CHOCOLATE WALNUT BARS

Steps:

• Line a 13 by 9 inch pan (at least 1-1/2 inches deep) with heavy-duty aluminum foil, shiny side up. Set aside.
• Adjust rack to center of oven; preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• For Crust: In small bowl, combine softened butter, sugar, and vanilla. By hand, cream until well-mixed and fluffy.
• Add sifted flour and stir to combine.
• Place crust mixture by small spoonfuls all over bottom of lined pan. Keeping your hands lightly floured, press crust mixture into an even layer with fingertips and/or knuckles (this mixture is a bit sticky, so re-flour your hands lightly as necessary).
• Place in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
• While crust bakes, make sure chocolate chips are at hand.
• Start Walnut Layer by combining eggs, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl. By hand, beat until well-mixed. Set aside.
• When Crust has baked for 10 minutes, remove from oven to cooling rack.
• Immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips as evenly as possible. Return to oven for 3 minutes to melt chocolate; remove to cooling rack.
• With back of spoon or offset spatula, spread chocolate evenly over crust. Allow to stand for about 3 minutes.
• During this standing period, add slightly cooled melted butter to egg mixture and beat in.
• Stir in walnuts until evenly distributed.
• After standing period, place walnut mixture by spoonfuls all over melted chocolate, distributing walnuts as evenly as possible.
• Return to oven. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.
• When done, top of walnut layer will be a light golden brown; edges will be darker. Remove to cooling rack.
• Cool completely before storing airtight.
• Before cutting, see Notes at beginning of recipe. To cut, use a large, sharp, straight- edged knife. Trim about 1/4 inch from each edge before cutting into bars.
• Store bars airtight at room temperature for up to several days, or freezer for longer storage.

WALNUT COOKIE HEARTS FILLED WITH FIG OR APRICOT JAM

Steps:

• In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour, walnuts, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and nutmeg. Process until the nuts are finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until blended into the dry ingredients and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small cup, whisk together the egg yolks, water and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and process until the dough holds together in a stiff mass. Transfer the dough into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 - 60 minutes, until firm but not hard.
• Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and cover cookie sheets with parchment paper. Divide the chilled dough in half (keep the piece you are not working on refrigerated). On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to a thickness slightly less than 1/4-inch. If the top of the dough is sticky, sprinkle it lightly with additional flour. Using a heart-shaped (or round) cutter 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter, cut cookies from the rolled-our dough. Gather the scraps together, reroll them, and cut additional cookies. As cookies are cut, place them, about 1/2-inch apart, on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, until the cookies look dry. Cool about 2 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely before filling. Continue rolling, cutting and baking until all the dough is used.
• To assemble and decorate the cookies, place half of them in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Spread each one with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam, then top with a second cookie. When all the cookies have been filled, top each with about 1/2 teaspoon melted chocolate, spreading the chocolate with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the chocolate lightly with walnuts. Let the cookies stand 2 - 3 hours, or until the chocolate if firm, then store them in an airtight container.
• ***An alternative to rolling out the dough: For an easy, though not heart-shaped variation, the dough can be chilled, sliced and baked like refrigerator cookies. Place the prepared dough on a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. With your hands, roll and pat each piece into a log about 9 inches long and 1 1/2 inches across. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for several hours, until firm. (The dough will keep refrigerated for several days.) Cut the logs into slices slightly less than 1/4-inch thick, then bake, fill and decorate as directed.

WALNUT CHOCOLATE CHIP BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease a 13x9x2 baking pan.
• Beat Hain Pure Foods Organic Light Brown Sugar and Spectrum Organic Shortening. Add in eggs and beat into mixture.
• In a separate bowl, mix Arrowhead Mills Organic Unbleached White Flour, Hain Pure Foods Gluten Free Featherweight Baking Powder and Hain Pure Foods Iodized Sea Salt together, then sift into wet mixture and beat to blend. Add in SunSpire Organic Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and walnuts.
• Spread batter in baking pan, bake 33-35 minutes.
• Allow to cool and then cut into bars.