Shortbread Hearts Recipes

CHERRY SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Sift the icing sugar, flour and cornflour together into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds and butter, then rub in the butter until smooth. Stir in the chopped glacé cherries and almond extract, and bring together to form a dough.
• Roll out on a lightly floured surface, then stamp out biscuits using a heartshaped cutter. Keep re-rolling the trimmings until all the dough is used. Carefully transfer the biscuits to baking trays lined with parchment and bake for just 8-10 mins until just pale golden.
• Using an upturned bottle top or similar, press gently into the centre of each biscuit to make a round indent. Spoon in a little jam and return to the oven for 2 mins. Remove and cool on a wire rack, before dusting with icing sugar to serve.

SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water and extract until mixture forms a ball. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a lightly floured 2-1/2-in. cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. , Bake at 325° for 13-16 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Dip one side of cookies in candy coating; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set.

SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Beat butter, powdered sugar, almond extract and food color in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes. Stir in flour and almonds.
• Divide dough in half; cover half and set aside. Place remaining half on ungreased cookie sheet; press into heart shape, about 1/4 inch thick.
• Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Cool on cookie sheet 25 minutes; carefully remove from cookie sheet to serving platter. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Place baking chips and shortening in microwavable bowl. Microwave uncovered on Medium-High (70%) about 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until chips can be stirred smooth. Drizzle over shortbread. Sprinkle with candy hearts.

EASY SHORTBREAD HEART-SHAPED COOKIES

Steps:

• Add butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract to the bowl of a large food processor. Process until smooth (about eight 1-second pulses). Add flour and pulse until mixture looks crumbly and chunky (about six 1-second pulses). Add sprinkles and quickly pulse several more times, until the sprinkles are just evenly incorporated.
• Turn the dough out onto a large piece of wax paper and form the crumbles into a log that's about 14 inches long. Shape the log so that it has three flat sides, giving the ends a triangular shape (the log should look like a long triangular prism).
• Wrap the triangular log with the wax paper. Take a wooden ruler (or another long, thin object) and press an indentation into one flat side of the log. Round the edges of that side to form a heart-shaped log. Place the wrapped cookie dough on a baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes. Fine-tune the shape of the heart (if necessary) and freeze for 2 to 3 more hours or until solid.
• Place rack in center position of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove log of dough from the freezer. Allow the cookie dough to come to room temperature for 5 minutes or until just soft enough that it doesn't crack or crumble when sliced. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into slices that are approximately 3/8-inch thick. Arrange cookies an inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until cookies just barely turn a light golden color around the edges, between 12 and 15 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets.

BAREFOOT CONTESSA'S SHORTBREAD HEARTS - INA GARTEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment (I use a standard Kitchen Aid hand mixer with regular blades), cream together the Butter and 1 Cup of the 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 dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3-inch heart-shaped cutter (I roll the dough between two sheets of flour-dusted waxed paper -- no sticking!).
• Place the hearts on an ungreased sheet pan and sprinkle with sugar (I line the baking sheets with parchment paper).
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (time will vary based on the size/shape/thickness of your cookie dough), until the edges begin to brown.
• Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Leave plain or dip in or paint with melted chocolate or Royal Icing.
• A NOTE FROM INA: The edges of the shortbread are ever so slightly sharper if you chill the cookies before baking them. I cut out the cookies days ahead and bake them the day I serve them.
• For me, I loosely wrap each baked cookie in bakery-type waxed 'tissue' paper and store them in the fridge in a tightly sealed Tupperware-type container -- they will keep for weeks this way and still taste great!

CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in yolk, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
• Once chilled, remove plastic wrap and sandwich dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out into a 1/2-inch-thick slab. Leaving dough between the parchment, place it on a baking sheet or large plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
• Heat oven to 325 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Pull dough from refrigerator, and remove parchment from dough. Using a 2-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut out as many hearts as possible. Transfer them to the prepared cookie sheets. Reroll the dough scraps and repeat.
• Bake cookies for 18 to 23 minutes, until puffed and set, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• In a heatproof measuring cup, melt chocolate in the microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between.
• Dip half of each cooled cookie in melted chocolate, letting the excess drip back into measuring cup. Place back on parchment-lined baking sheets, and sprinkle chocolate with crushed raspberries, if using. Let cool until chocolate is set, then store in an airtight container.

SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Line a baking sheet with greaseproof (parchment) paper. Sift the flour and rice flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mix.
• Cut butter into pieces and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture begins to bind together. Knead into soft dough.
• Roll the dough into an 8 inch round (or for exact round, mold it in an 8 inch cake pan). Place on baking sheet. Using a fork, prick top and make tine marks along edge. Using a table knife, score top with wedge marks. (This is where it will break when cooled)
• Bake 45 minutes or until pale golden in color. Sprinkle a little superfine sugar over top and cool on baking sheet. Cut into wedges. Keeps for weeks in airtight tin.

SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until just combined. Do not whip. Add vanilla; mix. Add flour mixture; mix on low until dough starts to come together. Transfer to a floured board; knead into a ball. Wrap in plastic; chill 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out heart shapes using a 3-inch heart cookie cutter. Place hearts on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
• While cookies bake, melt chocolate in a small bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Add shortening; whisk until smooth. Dip cooled shortbread into chocolate to coat surface evenly, or brush on with pastry brush; let set. Color remaining chocolate mixture, and pipe onto cookies as desired.

DRIED-CRANBERRY SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees with rack in center. Combine butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt in large mixing bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon until combined but not too creamy. Stir in dried cranberries.
• Pat dough evenly into an 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan. Bake until just beginning to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Place pan on cooling rack until cool enough to touch, about 20 minutes. Run knife around edges, remove shortbread, and transfer, right side up, to work surface. Use 1 1/2- to 2-inch heart cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Use a paring knife to trim stray bits of cranberry from edges. Cookies will keep for 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container.

CANDIED GINGER SHORTBREAD HEARTS

Steps:

• In a bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter, the brown sugar, and the ground ginger until the mixture is light and fluffy and add the flour and the salt. Beat the dough until it is just combined and beat in the candied ginger. Halve the dough, roll out each half 1/4 inch thick between sheets of wax paper, and freeze the dough on baking sheets for 10 to 15 minutes, or until it is very firm. Working with half the dough at a time, remove the top sheets of wax paper and cut out cookies with a 2 1/4-inch heart-shaped cutter. (The dough should be cold so that the cookies retain their shape.) Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, bake them in batches in the middle of a preheated 300°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are pale golden, and transfer them to a rack. Gather the scraps, reroll the dough, and make more cookies in the same manner. Let the cookies cool completely and sprinkle them with the confectioners' sugar, sifted. The cookies keep in an airtight container for 5 days.

SHORTBREAD HEARTS

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.