Heart-Shaped Shortbread Cookies
I love celebrating the seasons and the holidays that go with them, and Valentine’s Day is no exception. I want to make as many days as I can special for my daughter, and so I decided this year was a good year to start a new simple but fun holiday tradition: baking heart-shaped cookies for Valentine’s Day.
I’ve always loved shortbread cookies at Christmas time, especially the ones with that are sandwiched together with jam in the middle. Know the ones I’m talking about?
Anyway, I wanted to make a heart-shaped version for Valentine’s Day this year (even though I can’t even eat them right now because I recently cut out sugar!) Still, I wanted to make them with and for my daughter Evelyn,
- because she loves baking with me and I want to nurture that
- because even though it’s a sugary treat, it’s homemade and I know what’s in it (ie. no palm oil or other garbage!), and
- because now we have a special Valentine’s Day tradition to look forward to each year <3
So I looked up a basic shortbread recipe, broke out a jar of strawberry jam and my heart-shaped cookie cutters for the first time and Mini-Me and I got to work in the kitchen:)
Related: Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie Recipe
First we made our dough and rolled it out to about ¼-inch thick.
Then we (I) cut out a whole bunch of large hearts, half of which would form the base of our cookies and half of which would form the top. I popped the bottoms on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and popped them in the freezer for a few minutes to harden them up a bit.
In the meantime, I took the other half of the hearts (the tops) and I cut little hearts out of the centre of each one.
Then I pulled the cookie bottoms out of the freezer, preheated the oven to 350ºF and we spread some homemade strawberry-vanilla jam over the bottom layer of hearts.
I carefully placed the top layer of hearts on and popped them in the oven to bake for about 12 minutes.
When they came out of the oven, I let them cool and then dusted a little bit of icing sugar over them to finish them off.
They baked up perfectly and disappeared pretty quickly between my daughter and my husband (and the half a dozen cookies I put in the freezer for later… Because yes, these freeze well too!)
I rolled out any leftover dough and used the smallest cookie cutter to cut out a bunch of mini heart cookies, but I baked them a couple minutes too long (I should have shortened the cook time because they were smaller). Shortbread in general can easily be over-baked because of the high butter content, so keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t start to brown.
These were definitely a hit in our house, and even though I couldn’t eat any, spending time with my littlest love in the kitchen made it well worth it. (Plus, I may have snuck a couple tastes from around the edge;)
What about you? Do you have any Valentine’s Day traditions or treats you make? Let me know in the comments below:)
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Strawberry Jam (for filling)*
- * You can use any type of jam or jelly you like, although my personal favourite is this homemade Strawberry-Vanilla Jam.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the flour and mix until well combined.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thick. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Cut out 24 large hearts with a heart-shaped cookie cutter and place 12 of them on the baking tray. Place baking tray in the freezer for about 10 minutes. These will be the bottom layer of the cookies.
- Using a small heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut small hearts out of the centres of the other 12 large hearts and set aside. These will be the top layer of the cookies.
- Take the large hearts out of the freezer and spread the strawberry jam over them. Carefully place the hearts with the cutouts (the top layer) on top of the jam-covered bottoms.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, checking them every so often to make sure they don't begin to brown.
- Let cool completely. Then sift some icing sugar overtop to finish them. Serve and enjoy!
Wishing you homemade, homegrown, homestead happiness 🙂
CATEGORIES
1 Comment
Submit a Comment
ABOUT ANNA
You Might Also Like
Top 10 Best Crops for Your Victory Garden
Victory gardens gained popularity in both WW1 and WW2 when American and Canadian citizens were encouraged to grow as much of their own food as possible so that commercially grown food could be sent to troops and allies fighting overseas. Today, victory gardens are...
Turmeric Scrambled Eggs And Garlic
* This article contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my Affiliate Disclosure. I’ve always loved eggs, but ever since I started doing Keto a couple months ago, my egg consumption has gone through the roof. These days, it’s not unusual to...
I sent my husband to the grocery store last week for a few staples that we were running low on, including pasta. But to his dismay, the pasta aisle had been wiped clean.
Shortages of basic goods and staple items like pasta are becoming the norm very quickly and could last for months, which is why learning to make your own homemade pantry staples is quickly becoming more important than ever.
We decided to make our own pasta (even though we don’t have a pasta maker and had to roll it and cut it by hand), and it was waaay easier than I had ever imagined!
So if you too find yourself staring down an empty pasta aisle any time in the near future, here’s a super simple recipe to make your own at home, without a pasta maker or any special equipment!
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/homemade-pasta-without-pasta-maker/ to get my full recipe and instructions.
.
.
.
#homemadepasta #homemade #pasta #fromscratch #homecooking #heritagecooking #pantrystaples #diy #nomnom #homesteadkitchen
Came into the living room to find this...
I mean, who doesn’t like cozying up by the fire on a cool, grey day in quarantine?
.
.
.
#fireside #homelife #stayhome #cozy #grateful
Despite all of the sorrow in this world, there is still sooo much to grateful for. It’s funny how we need the darkness to see the light.
Today I’m thankful for spring blooms and the promise of sunny, flower-filled days ahead.
What are you grateful for today?
.
.
.
#gratitude #spring #springblooms #theworldlaughsinflowers
🥬 Victory gardens first became popular during WW1 and WW2 when citizens were asked to grow gardens at home to feed themselves so that commercially grown food could be sent to troops and allies fighting overseas.
Today the victory garden is seeing a resurgence as more and more people are realizing the importance of securing their own food source as we’ve already begun to face supply chain interruptions and empty grocery store shelves thanks to the current pandemic that shows no sign of slowing anytime soon.
So, what’s the difference between a regular home garden and a victory garden? It’s all in the crops you plant and planning your garden for maximum food production.
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/10-best-crops-victory-garden/ to learn about planning your victory garden and the top 10 crops everyone should be planting at home right now.
.
.
.
#victorygarden #victorygardens #victorygardening #survivalgarden #survivalgardening #organicgardening #growfoodnotlawns #homegrownfood #foodsecurity #selfreliance #homesteading
I’ve never been happier to have learned how to can and preserve food than I am right now.
Knowing how to can my own food not only means that I and my family are more self-sufficient and can preserve the fruits and vegetables we grow right in our own home garden, but it means that we can free up resources at the grocery store for other people at this time.
When I went to the store to do our final stock up last week, I debated buying pasta sauce. But I knew I still had 9 bags of frozen tomatoes from our garden last year that I could turn into sauce, so I left what was on the shelves for other people who need it more than we do.
If you’ve never canned food at home before, there’s truly never been a better time to learn. You’re at home isolating anyway, why not pick up a useful new skill while you’re at it?
Even if you don’t grow your own food, knowing how to preserve it means you can buy the fresh stuff that no one else is buying, or preserve seasonal produce from farmers in your area if there are supply chain issues down the road.
If you’re ready to learn this invaluable life skill, click the link in my bio and check out my beginner’s guide to water bath canning, or go to https://www.thehouseandhomestead.com/water-bath-canning-beginners/ to learn more.
.
.
.
#lifeskills #canning #preserving #homecanning #selfsufficiency #selfreliance #homesteading #foodsecurity #homesteading #coronavirus #covid19
Irony: Community has never been so important as it is now, in a time when we are all being asked to isolate ourselves from each other.
Yesterday our neighbours invited us over to help them butcher a pig. We kept a safe social distance of course, but my husband helped butcher and I helped pack, and we filled their freezer. As a thank you, they sent us home with a gift box full of meat.
We also get duck eggs from them, and we trade them veggies and seedlings and, um, medicinal herbs;)
During a time like this when our borders are all being closed and our grocery stores are empty and even rationing basic supplies, it’s becoming more important than ever to work together in our individual communities and neighbourhoods.
We need to support each other, even if we have to stay at least a metre away from each other. And perhaps most importantly right now, we need to work together to ensure our local food supply and to become more self-reliant, not only as individuals but as communities too.
Irony: I wrote a post about this topic a few months ago when we all still lived in the land of milk and honey. But it’s more relevant now than ever. I highly encourage everyone to read it and think about how you can support self-reliance in your own communities at this time.
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://www.thehouseandhomestead.com/ways-to-promote-self-reliance-in-your-community/ to read more.
We are SO lucky to live in an area where food security and self-reliance are so important to so many members of our community. And we’re even luckier to have neighbours who live by these same values❤️
.
.
.
#selfreliance #selfsufficiency #foodsecurity #sustainability #sustainable #eatlocal #buylocal #homesteading #homesteadersofinstagram #community #wereallinthistogether
Hey Anna, thanks for sharing the cookies recipe. It really looks tasty.