Sweet Hearts – White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

What says “Valentine” better than a heart?  And what better heart than a yummy sweet pink cookie heart ?!! 🙂Don’t just give those special someones your heart, give them some of these sweet yummy heart cookies that will surely say “i love you!”

These very delicious cookie hearts were inspired by our great chum Leah at Freutcake.  Leah is a fabulous baker and you can always know that anything she posts will be well worth your time making and enjoyment eating.  She had a version of these cookies in a post around Christmas time and we got to thinking “Why not turn those traditional round cookies into hearts instead for Valentine’s Day treats?  After all, the color is already perfect and the taste is wonderful!”

So this is basically Leah’s recipe just with the dough rolled out and cut  into heart shapes and with a couple of small changes.  The original recipe calls for using shortening added to the white chocolate to thin it for dipping the cookies in.  We substituted coconut oil for the shortening.  It tastes just ever so slightly sweet and gives these delightful White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread cookies just a tiny hint of coconut flavor.

We also found the dough a bit too dry to allow us to successfully roll it out so as to cut out the heart shapes, so we added a bit of maraschino cherry juice and a bit of heavy cream to the dough to moisten it.  If you don’t like the taste of coconut, just use shortening as the original recipe calls for.  Either way, we think these will win the heart of any Valentine you give them to.  They are bound to promote more love, more joy and consequently, much more abundant living 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day from your Two Chums,

White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread– Better Homes and Gardens via Freutcake.com
makes about 40 cookies
1/2 cup of maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of cold butter
12 ounces of white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
2 drops red food coloring (optional)
2 teaspoons of shortening or coconut oil
Approximately 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
Approximately 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, or food processor, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries, 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped white chocolate, cherry juice and cream.  Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture, or process on pulse in your food processor until it forms a smooth ball .
3. Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut with heart shaped cookie cutter.  Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle the tops of cookies with granulated sugar.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
5. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening or coconut oil. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off and smooth the side of the cookie to reveal the heart shape. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set.

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Storage Note: Layer cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.