Jammy Heart Biscuits

I made these little beauties for my birthday last week and I absolutely ADORED them (along with everyone else! - They were gone by the end of the day!)

I had been deciding what type of cake I should make for my birthday, when I thought that a) not a lot of folk in my family/extended family are huge fans of cake and b) there is an endless amount of genres of cakes I could make. One word: decisions!

So, after a few minutes of pondering (and a lovely cup of peppermint tea), I decided to make these beasts! Everyone loves jammy dodgers and what could be better than making a tastier, less heavy alternative?!

The recipe below makes about 20 (depending on the size of the biscuits you want to make!) and they're suitable for vegetarians :)

What you'll need:

250g Butter

150g Icing sugar

1 large egg (separated)

375g plain flour

seedless rasberry jam (about 100g or so)

for the buttercream:

You can either use this recipe:

140g butter (softened)

280g icing sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

to make: beat the butter in a large bowl until soft, add half the icing sugar and mix until smooth. Add remaining icing sugar and 1 tbsp milk and beat until lovely and creamy. Add in the extra milk if the mixture needs loosened up. 

OR

buy buttercream frosting :)

Okay doke!

So first of all we're going to beat together the butter and the icing sugar until it's a light and fluffy consistency. Then add in the egg yolk and add half the flour. 

Add the remaining flour and mix with your hands to ensure you get all the mixture and start to knead with your hands in the bowl until it's smooth (this shouldn't take long). Then wrap in cling film and either put in a cool place (NOT THE FRIDGE) for about 30 minutes to rest.

Heat the oven to 190oC/170oC Fan/Gas 5. Roll out half the dough until it about 3mm thick (on a floured surface - believe me, it'll make your life so much easier!). I used a 5.8 cm fluted cutter to cut out 20 rounds. Place on a greased baking tray and bake for about 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Next, roll out the remaining dough and cut out 20 more rounds (again on a floured surface). Now, we have the difficult part - cutting out the hearts. If you're lucky enough to have a tiny heart cutter, use that. Otherwise, the best way to do it is to place the rounds onto the baking tray first, then cut out the hearts using a small veg knife. It does get a bit tedious once you get to the 15th round but remember - ONLY 5 MORE TO GO!!

Beat the egg white until it's a wee bit frothy and brush over the biscuit just to give it that extra crispiness. Bake and cool as before.

Then what to do is make the - or use the bought - buttercream and spread over each biscuit (make sure not to get the ones with the hearts on it! Place some jam in the centre (about a teaspoon) and cover with a biscuit with the heart cut out. Push down gently so the jam fills the heart shape.

Sprinkle with icing suga.

So there you go. Yummy and fabulous looking biscuits that are suitable for a kids party and also for a grown up party. 

Now the only problem will be is not to eat them all!!

Easy Origami Heart

As probably everyone who follows me on Instagram knows i'm obsessed with origami. I find it really relaxing and therapeutic. I didn't always love origami though (As my best friend and sister of 25 years, Catherine (@porcelanne) will testify)
 Nope i was a hater once. I remember trying to do origami when I was about eight or nine and my best friend having to hide the book from me as I was about to have the child version of a mental breakdown. I'm pretty sure there was screaming involved!
Anyway, I made these lovely hearts and decided to share it with you lovely lot. This one is really easy to do, so those of low tolerance will even find it not as frustrating! I hope!

So are we ready kids? Good let's go! 

start off with a square piece of paper and fold in half and crease

unfold

now fold it the other way and crease

you should have a piece of paper with creases looking like this :)

now fold on side into the middle like so

now turn over so the folded bit is on the opposite side

fold the top corner (with the folded side) over to the middle and crease. Kind of like a paper airplane.

do the same on the other side and crease

flip the paper over to the other side. It should be looking like this :)

Next, fold the top corner in again to meet the middle and crease.

Do the same with the other side and crease. It should be looking like this.

fold the top bit of the part you just folded over again and crease.

like so

Do the same with the other side.

Now for the trickiest part! You'll see a pocket on the bottom part...

You need to fold the top half into this

Don't worry about these flaps, we're going to fold them down!

crease the flaps down

Like so...

Do the same on the other side

So this is what your piece of paper should be looking like. Don't worry about the rough edges!

Next, fold the top square in each corner over.

This wasn't very neat! However crease down :)

Again, do the same in the other corner

This is what it should be looking like...

Fold the top pointy bits down and crease

So fold them just down to the next folded bit

Do the same with the other side...

So it should look like this.

Turn over et VOILA! You have yourself a lovely wee heart :3

Why not try sticking smaller hearts onto bigger ones like the one above?

 Hopefully this all made sense to you, i tried to put it in terms I myself would understand. If you have any questions please feel free to comment. Also if you enjoyed this post please share :)

<3