Vanilla Hearts Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
• Sift flour into a big bowl.
• Cut butter into small pieces. Using your fingers work the butter into the flour until a crumbly dough has formed.
• Add sugar and vanilla essence and knead well (it takes some minutes until the dough has the right consistency).
• Roll out the dough (it is supposed to be very thick-approx. 2-3 cm) and cut out hearts.
• Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.
• Let cool and store in an air-tight box.

Steps:

• In small bowl, combine flour and salt.
• In large bowl, with electric mixer, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Beat in vanilla.
• Beat in flour mixture just until blended.
• Shape dough into 2 disks; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Between 2 sheets of floured wax paper, roll 1 disk 1/8-inch thick.
• With floured 3-inch heart-shape cookie cutter, cut out cookies.
• Cut out centers of half cookies with floured 1 1/2 inch heart-shape cookie cutter.
• Slide cookies on wax paper to another large cookie sheet and refrigerate about 15 minutes, or until firm.
• Remove heart-shape centers from cookies; place cookies on prepared sheets, 1 inch apart.
• Bake 13-15 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden.
• Cool on parchment paper on wire racks.
• Repeat with remaining dough, rerolling scraps.
• Sift confectioners' sugar over cookies with cut-out centers.
• Spread 1 t jam on each plain cookie; top with remaining cookies to form sandwiches.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3-inch heart-shaped cutter. Place the hearts on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
• Allow to cool to room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Lightly grease a 20cmx30cm cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper. Spread the cake batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Place the sugar, rosewater and water in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Use an 8cm heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut hearts from the cake. Spoon over the icing and top with petals. Refrigerate until just set.