6 Sweet Valentine's Day Recipes
Sure, flowers are nice, but chocolate and other confections make the sweetest tokens of affection — especially when they’re heart-shaped.
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Be Mine: Conversation Heart Cookies (above)
Spark a new relationship with these sentimentally iced sweets.
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Royal Icing
Gel-paste food coloring (such as leaf green, lemon yellow, peach, red, rose, and violet)
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture gradually, beating until just incorporated. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk, and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in top third and lower third. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4-inch thickness, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out cookies with a 2-inch heart cutter, and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roll out scraps once, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Freeze cookies until very firm, about 15 minutes.
3. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through and switching from top to bottom, until edges turn golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.
4. Divide royal icing into 1/2-cup portions in small bowls. Tint each with a different gel-paste food coloring, starting with just a drop, mixing well, and adding more, drop by drop, to reach desired shade. Transfer 1 bowl of icing to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch round plain tip. Pipe the outline around edge of each cookie, then fill in with frosting. Poke air bubbles with a toothpick. Transfer decorated cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and let stand uncovered overnight until dry.
5. Arrange stamp letters to create desired phrases. (We stamped LUV U, UR A QT, BFF, LYLAS, B MINE, and 2GTBT.) Fold a paper towel into quarters. Squeeze a small amount of red gel-paste food coloring onto a paper towel, and press stamp in coloring. (You may need to blot stamp a few times on a clean paper towel if coloring is too thick.) Lightly press stamp on top of icing in center of each cookie. Let stand until dry, about 30 minutes. Stamped cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.
See More: Quick, One-Pot Meal Ideas To Feed the Whole Family
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Mon Cheri Amour: Chocolate Eclair Hearts
Chocolate lovers (chocolate pate a choux, chocolate filling, and chocolate glaze), Francophiles, and sweethearts everywhere will adore these petit eclairs.
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
FOR THE PATE A CHOUX
1 1/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon best-quality unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
FOR THE FILLING
4 ounces best-quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
FOR THE GLAZE
9 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate (at least 61 percent cacao), coarsely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Using a 2 1/2-inch heart cookie cutter and a pencil, trace 12 hearts on a piece of parchment paper, spacing 1 inch apart. Repeat with another piece of parchment. Lightly coat 2 rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray; line with prepared parchment, traced side down. Set aside.
2. Make the pate a choux: Sift flour and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. Put milk, butter, sugar, and salt into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, and add flour mixture all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until flour has been incorporated.
3. Set pan over medium-low heat. Continue to cook, stirring, until dough pulls away from sides of pan and forms a ball, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until just warm to the touch.
4. Raise speed to medium. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Transfer dough to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #802). Pipe onto prepared parchment, tracing outlines of hearts and then filling centers. Pipe another heart on top of first layer.
5. Place hearts in oven. Reduce temperature to 400 degrees. Bake 10 minutes, then rotate sheets. Reduce to 350 degrees; bake 7 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool slightly. Turn off oven.
6. Using a serrated knife, halve hearts horizontally. Arrange, cut sides down, on wire rack. Place rack on baking sheet; transfer to oven. Prop open door slightly, and let hearts cool completely, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside.
7. Make the filling: Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Pulse chocolate in a food processor until finely chopped. Put 1 cup cream and the sugar into a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Add hot cream mixture to the food processor. Carefully pulse until completely smooth. Transfer to a large bowl set in the ice-water bath. Let cool completely, whisking occasionally, 30 to 45 minutes. Pour through a fine sieve into a medium bowl.
8. Put chocolate cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add remaining cup cream. Beat on low speed until medium peaks form (do not overbeat).
9. Make the glaze: Pulse chocolate in a food processor until finely chopped. Put cream and corn syrup into a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until syrup has dissolved. Add hot cream mixture to the food processor. Carefully pulse until completely smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl; use a rubber spatula to eliminate air bubbles.
10. To assemble: Spoon glaze over tops of hearts. Let stand until set, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, spread filling onto cut sides of bottoms of hearts. Sandwich tops and bottoms. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, uncovered, up to 4 hours.
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Strong Feelings: Beeting-Heart Martini
Feed romance with something surprising — a classic cocktail with an unexpected garnish fits the bill.
1 red beet into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
small heart cookie cutter.
Cut a cooked red beet into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Stamp out small hearts with a cookie cutter; drop them into ice-cold gin or vodka martinis.
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Love-ly: Heart Sandwich Cookies
These sweet cookies are sandwiched with a filling inspired by the Oreo.
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for parchment
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Red and pink gel-paste food coloring
Cream Filling
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Remove from the mixer and and knead until a dough forms.
2. Divide dough into 3 or 4 pieces, depending on how many shades of pink you would like the cookies to be. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, add food coloring, 1 drop at a time, mixing and kneading to combine, until desired shade is reached; the more food coloring you add, the darker the color will be. Flatten each piece of colored dough into a disk, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to overnight. Bring to room temperature, about 10 minutes, before rolling.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in top and lower thirds. Roll out each disk of dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment to just under 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out 1-, 1 1/2-, and 2-inch heart shapes, making sure you have even numbers in each color and size for a total of thirty-six 1-inch, thirty-six 1 1/2-inch, and thirty 2-inch cookies, rerolling scraps once. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, and freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes.
4. Bake until barely golden brown around edges, about 8 minutes for 1-inch cookies, 10 minutes for 1 1/2-inch cookies, and 12 minutes for 2-inch cookies, rotating halfway through. Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets set on wire racks. Spread or pipe (using a pastry bag and a small plain tip) filling onto bottom side of half the cookies, and sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
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Pucker Up: Lemon-Date Bars
Lemon zest, lemon juice, and sweet dates come together in a pretty, easily giftable bar format. Powdered sugar is a romantic final flourish.
CRUST
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more, room temperature, for baking dish
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon coarse salt
FILLING
8 ounces medjool dates, pitted
1 cup boiling water
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 3/4 cup fresh juice (from 4 to 5 lemons)
1. Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. Butter parchment. Whisk together flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt in a bowl. Work in butter with your fingertips until combined and mixture holds together when pinched. Press crust evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Freeze 15 minutes. Bake crust until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Filling: Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, soak dates in boiling water 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Purée dates in a food processor with enough of soaking liquid (about 1/2 cup) to make a spreadable paste. (You should have about 1 1/4 cups.)
3. While dates are soaking, whisk together granulated sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl. Whisk in eggs, then lemon zest and juice.
4. Spread date paste evenly over baked crust. Bake 4 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees, pour filling over date layer, then bake until just set, about 20 minutes more.
Let cool on a wire rack 20 minutes. Run a paring knife around edges, then lift out of dish using parchment. Let cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cut into squares.
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