Chocolate Heart Cookies

Difficulty Rating -

They say the way to a mans heart is through his stomach, and we know that most women are chocoholics - so naturally Chocolate Heart Cookies are a prize winning valentine gift to make for the love in your life. These cookies look fantastic, and will give the impression that you have put a lot of effort into making them, but actually they are a doddle to make.

To make the Chocolate Heart Cookies you will need...
500g butter,
Softened 200g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
500g plain flour
Cooking Chocolate
Greaseproof paper and a heart shaped pastry cutter.

Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add flour and mix well.

Roll out the biscuit mixture to 1cm thickness and cut out heart shapes with biscuit cutters. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Take the cookies out of the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Melting the chocolate
Break up the chocolate into a glass bowl and put it into the Microwave for a minute, then stir. If the chocolate s not yet completely melted, pop it back into the microwave for a further 20 seconds, then stir again. Continue in this way until the chocolate has melted.

If you don't have a microwave, you can melt the chocolate on the hob. Half fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil, and sit the glass dish of Chocolate chunks on top of the pan. Stir the chocolate until he chocolate melts. Avoid all contact with water - this will spoil your chocolate.

Take one biscuit at a time and dunk it into the chocolate so that half of the heart is coated in chocolate, and then place the biscuit on a sheet of greaseproof paper to set. Dunk all the biscuits in this way and set aside to dry.

Put the cookies into a nice airtight box and wrap up for your valentine.