Thursday, February 14, 2013

Sweet hearts for your Valentine

It's not very cool to like Valentine's Day, is it? It's much more acceptable to frown on the ridiculousness of red roses, pink champagne and boxes of chocolates than to admit that you'd happily have any of them turn up at your doorstep.

Speaking as someone who once received a plastic rose for Valentine's Day, I have a foot in both camps. Yes, I believe romantic gestures - however you define them - shouldn't be limited to one day a year, but I don't think that means you should be all Grinch-y about it. Embrace the chance to do something pink and heart-shaped for once. You can always be boring and unromantic tomorrow.


Love Biscuits
The Small Girl and I made these this morning. The recipe is a more straightforward version of Nigella's one in How To Eat.We were going to turn them into bunting for when our beloved comes home, but we've eaten too many and the holes I made got a bit sticky with icing. Nevermind, love is never having to apologise for not making heart biscuits into bunting.

300g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
100g butter, diced
100g soft brown sugar
5 Tbsp golden syrup
1 egg

Heat the oven to 160C and line a tray with baking paper.
Sift the flour, spices, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter (you can do this in a freestanding mixer), then add the sugar. Mix the egg and golden syrup together, then add. Mix with your hands to make a firm dough.
Split it into two discs, wrap one well in clingfilm and put it in the fridge (or wrap it really well and put it in the freezer for up to a month). Roll the other one out between two sheets of clingfilm until it is about 3mm thick and cut out shapes with biscuit cutters.
Place these on the prepared tray and bake for about 12 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.
When they are cold, ice with glace icing made by mixing 150g icing sugar with 2 Tbsp boiling water and as much food colouring as you can stand. If you fancy something a little harder, check out our MAC makeup-inspired heart below.


May you have a very happy Valentine's Day and be feted by admirers both well-known and secret,
Lucy x Pin It

6 comments:

  1. i love these! the second one looks like nail art sported by the young girls in my local supermarket!
    seriously though ... no i can;t think of a serious comment in sight of such girlish pretty heart biscuits! happy valentines day to you too.

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  2. Just came round to say that I have been reading for a while but just feted you in public in my most recent blog post. :) Spreading the love for Valentines' Day.

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  3. very cute hearts - I think that Valentines day is fun when it comes to baking - and I know Sylvia would love these esp with sprinkles but I suspect there wouldn't be too many for bunting if she had her way!

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  4. I admire people who go full Valentines, I saw a man on the train yesterday carrying a giant stuffed bear. They both looked uncomfortable. Delicious looking biscuits :)

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  5. Such pretty biscuits, there is definitely love in there!

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Hello - thanks for stopping by. If this was real life I'd make you a cup of tea and open the biscuit tin, but in lieu of those things, let's have a chat anyway...