Heart Tarts

Valentine's Day will be here soon, but I've been messing around with heart-shaped things for weeks - especially heart-shaped foods. It all began after acquiring a package of heart-shaped cookie cutters from a local craft store for a Valentine's Day post I wrote over at MoL.

Once I started playing with them, I couldn't stop. With my inner girlie girl emerging front and center, the heart-shaped foods were on a roll. Or I was on a roll... It's hard to say, really. Inspiration often seems external, crossing our paths when we least expect it, or are unequipped to deal with it. You know, like just before bedtime, or while stuck in traffic.

Anyway, my favorite heart-shaped food experiment thus far has been heart-tarts, an idea Matt and I conjured up a couple weeks ago.

I'd give you a recipe, but I think it's probably better just to explain the general process:

1. Make pie dough. Refrigerate it for an hour. Roll it out, and cut out the hearts with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

2. Drop a dollop of jam (we used our homemade strawberry jam, and it was delicious) in the center of one heart cut-out. Gently cover with a second cut-out, pressing down the edges with a fork.

3. Brush the tops of the pastries with an eggwash, sprinkle with raw sugar, and place on a silpat mat-lined cookie sheet.

4. Bake in an oven preheated to 375°F until golden brown, 15-20 minutes.

5. Cool for at least 10 minutes. Eat.