For several weeks I heard
talk at home about fantastic looking heart-shaped cookies that my daughter
wanted to make. She had taken a children's cookbook out of the library with the
word "Princess" somewhere in the title and the book, with it's bright pink
cover, became a fixture on our breakfast bar. With each passing day more and
more pages were flagged with pastel-colored sticky notes, identifying the many
recipes she wished to try.
A call home earlier today
gave away the secret that the cookies were in production. I say production
because what I learned on that call is that these were no ordinary,
kid-friendly (read: easy to make) cookies that could be whipped up after
school. While a quick read of the recipe and it's mention of ‘shortbread
cookies' made my partner think they would be a breeze to make, the reality had
been a bit more complicated. To achieve the results of the alluring photo in
the princess cookbook would take time and dedication. And dinner would be
either leftovers or late.
When I got home from work my
daughter couldn't wait to show me the cookies. She was so proud of all the work
she had done to create them and had to explain their provenance.
First step: shortbread dough
rolled out and cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. While those were cooling,
another batch was made but these were cut twice: once with the same cookie
cutter and then a second time with a smaller, heart-shaped cookie cutter to
pull out an inside heart. During all this baking, cutting and cooling the white
chocolate needed to be melted and cooled. It would be spread on the bottom
shortbread and while still sticky, the heart-shaped frame would be positioned
on top. When the white chocolate was dried the finishing flair was raspberry
preserves which filled the inside heart.
The end results were
beautiful and delicious, perfect in every way and worth the effort.