Category: Cookies, Dessert, Valentine's Day
Yields:
24 Servings
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 6 Hr
Cook Time:
12 Mins
Total Time:
6 Hr 12 Mins
Hello everyone, welcome back to another delicious lactose free recipe. For this recipe I decided to make some cute cookies that really stand out without the need for intense decorating. They will need to be prepared in advance and assembly does take some time but overall, they are completely worth it.
As always, this recipe is lactose free providing you use the right ingredients. Always double check to make sure all the ingredients are safe. Make sure you follow the recipe. All the steps are very important especially refrigerating the cookies each time you manipulate them.
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
Instructions
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Place the margarine and sugar in a large bowl.
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Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until well combined.
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Grab your sieve and sift the salt, flour and baking powder into the margarine mixture.
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Mix until the dough just comes together.
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Place the dough onto a very lightly floured surface. Knead until the dough is completely together. This won’t take very long. Divide the dough into two even pieces.
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Cover one half of the dough with clingwrap and place in the fridge. Grab the sieve again and sift the cocoa onto the second half of the dough.
- Knead until the cocoa has been completely incorporated into the dough. Wrap the dough with clingwrap and place in the fridge. The dough needs quite a long time to chill. I recommend overnight but four hours is enough. These cookies require a lot of manipulating and moving. If the dough is too soft then it is too difficult to work with.
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Line all the trays with baking paper or cooking oil. Grab your largest heart cookie cutter. Start working with the vanilla dough first. Leave the chocolate dough in the fridge. Lightly flour your working surface and rolling pin. Manipulate the dough with your hands, letting the warmth from them soften the dough just enough to roll out. Roll out the dough to roughly 5mm. Use the large heart cookie cutter and cut out as many hearts as you can.
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Gently place each heart onto the baking tray. They won’t spread very much during baking so then can be relatively close together. Fill up one tray with the vanilla hearts. Place the tray in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
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Repeat this exact same process with the chocolate dough. Try to make the dough the same thickness as the vanilla dough. Again place the tray with the chocolate hearts in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
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Grab your medium sized heart cookie cutter and the third tray. Take the tray of large vanilla hearts out of the fridge. Place the cookie cutter into the centre of the large hearts, press down gently and lift. Transfer the heart to the spare baking tray.
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Continue this process with all the vanilla hearts making sure to keep them to one side of the tray. Place the original tray with the centres cut out back in the fridge. Take the tray of large chocolate hearts out of the fridge. Place the cookie cutter into the centre of the large hearts, press down gently and lift. Transfer the heart to the spare baking tray.
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Continue this process with all the chocolate hearts making sure to keep them to the other side of the tray.
- Now place both trays in the fridge for another 15 to 20 minutes.
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Take all three trays out of the fridge. Working quickly place the chocolate hearts into the vanilla hearts with the cut out.
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Place the vanilla hearts into the centre of the chocolate hearts that had the centres cut out. Again place all the cookies in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
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Do not worry too much about shaping the cookies or making sure there are no gaps. There will be time for that later. Grab your final cookie cutter. This one should be the smallest heart. Place the cutter into the very centre of the hearts, press down and lift up.
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Transfer the middle sections onto the third baking tray. Continue this process for all of the cookies.
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Quickly place the chocolate hearts into the centre of the vanilla middle and the reverse for the other hearts.
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This is the time to shape the cookies to make sure the edges are even and there are no gaps between the layers. Place the cookies back into the fridge for another 15 to 20 minutes. This will be the last time I promise.
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Preheat your oven to 170°c. Bake the cookies one tray at a time for 9 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool down, serve and enjoy.
