Shortbread Hearts

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us so I thought I’d make something heart-shaped and turned to my trusted Taste of Home Ultimate Cookie Collection book. I have these marked in my book and had written “Good” next to the title.  Writing in a book just makes me shudder because as a young child in school, I’m sure it was drilled into us not to write in our books and don’t dog-ear the pages.  However, I use pencil, not pen, and I mark if the recipe is worth trying again.  This one is very good with just a hint of almond flavoring.  As you can see, I went with red and white instead of the dark chocolate.  Hope you enjoy yours and Happy Valentine’s Day!


Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • Dash salt
  • 1 cup cold butter
  • 1 tablespoon cold water
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • ½ lb. dark chocolate candy coating, melted
  1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in water and extract until mixture forms a ball.
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼-in. thickness.  Cut with a floured 2 ½-in. cookie cutter.  Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 min.
  4. Bake for 13-16 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.  Dip one side of cookies in candy coating; place on waxed paper until set.

Yield: about 2 dozen