Jam Sweethearts Food

SWEETHEART THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350˚F. Beat butter with confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Beat in flour until a dough forms.
• Roll level tablespoons of dough into balls; arrange 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Using the end of the handle of a flat-bottomed eating utensil or rubber spatula, press two deep indentations into the center of each ball to create a V (it will expand during baking to become a heart).
• Bake until bottoms are golden and cookies are just set, 17 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together sanding sugar and a tiny pinch of luster dust. In a small bowl, beat egg white with 1 teaspoon water. Working with a few cookies at a time, brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle generously with sanding-sugar mixture.
• Return to oven and bake until egg wash is dry and sugar has set, about 1 minute. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.
• In a small saucepan, bring jam to a boil. Press through a fine-mesh strainer; discard solids. Spoon into heart indentations (about 1/2 teaspoon per cookie), or transfer heated jam to squeeze bottles for more precision. Let jam set completely before serving. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.)

JAM SWEETHEARTS

Steps:

• Beat butter & sugar together in a bowl.
• Add yolk and vanilla and beat the mixture until smooth.
• Add flour and salt and mix everything to form a smooth dough.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut out with 1 1/2-2in circle cookie cutters.
• Arrange cookies on baking sheet.
• Cut hearts from half of the cookies with 1in heart cutters.
• Bake for 12 minutes.
• Cool Completely.
• Make frostingby beating butter until smooth, then gradually adding icing sugar, water and vanilla.
• Spread frosting over whole (not heart) cookies.
• Drop a small spoonful of jam on top of frosting.
• Press heart cookies on top of whole cookies.

JAMMY HEART DROPS

Steps:

• Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla for a few secs, then use a wooden spoon to stir in the flour with ¼ tsp salt. Roll the dough into 36 small balls (the easiest way to get this right is to divide the dough into quarters - each quarter then makes 9 balls).
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Squish 2 balls of dough together on the paper, keeping the 'round' edges of the balls at the top, but pinching together at the base where they meet, so they make a rough heart shape. Flatten with the palm of your hand to a biscuit, then press in heart-shaped 'dent' for the jam - thumbs and fingers are perfect for this. Repeat with remaining dough balls leaving a little space between each finished heart shape for spreading.
• Spoon the jam into a food bag (or disposable piping bag), snip off the end and pipe roughly 2-3 tsp jam into the thumb-heart dips you have made in each biscuit. Bake for 8-12 mins until pale golden and crisp. Cool on the trays.
• Mix the custard powder and icing sugar, then dribble in enough water to make a runny icing. Drizzle all over the cooled biscuits, allow to set for at least 10 mins, then serve or store in a biscuit tin.

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS - VALENTINE'S JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the butter and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Use a knife to mix in the water, a little at a time stirring with the knife until the mixture comes together and you can form a ball with your hands.
• Wrap the pastry in a piece of clingfilm and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes - this will make it easier to roll out.
• Turn the oven on to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
• Sprinkle the work surface and your rolling pin with a little flour and roll the pastry out to about ¼ cm thick.
• Dip the cutter in flour then cut out as many circles as you can - you may need to gather the bits of pastry up and roll them out again to make 12 to 18 circles.(Make sure you leave a little of the pastry scraps for the heart shaped pastry lids!) Once you have the desired amount of pastry cases, roll out the pastry scraps and cut out the required amount of hearts, using a mini heart shaped biscuit/cookie cutter.
• Lay the rounds of pastry in the tart tin, which has been buttered or greased and press them gently into place. Prick the base of each tart once with a fork.
• Put the tart tray into the oven and bake for 6 minutes until the pastry is very pale golden. Using oven gloves take the tray out of the oven.
• Carefully put 1 heaped teaspoon of jam into each tart, and then top them off with a pastry heart. Using oven gloves put the tray back into the oven for 6 minutes.
• Using your oven gloves take the tray out of the oven.
• Leave them to cool for a few minutes then use a palette knife to gently lift the tarts out of the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Arrange them on an attractive serving plate and sprinkle with caster sugar.