Love cookies

Here are some super easy heart cookies I made for my work colleagues to celebrate Valentine's Day. You can use any colour combinations, or any shape - such a fun recipe to play around with. If you want to make some here's what you need:

Ingredients (makes about 30 medium sized cookies):

• 120g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 650g plain flour
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp skimmed milk
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 medium eggs
• 300g caster sugar
• Pink food colouring (optional)

Method:
Melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water or in the microwave. Be careful not to cook the chocolate!

In a large bowl, combine the flour, eggs, butter, milk, baking powder and caster sugar. Beat the ingredients until well-blended with an electric mixer or spoon, occassionally scraping the bowl with the rubber spatula. Take out half the dough and colour with pink food colouring (or leave plain if you want). Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film then refrigerate until the dough is firm enough to handle (normally about an hour, or 20 mins ni the freezer).
 
Mix the melted chocolate into the remaining dough until blended. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate until firm.
 
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper. Once the dough is firm enough to work with, roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin and use a medium-sized heart cutter to make pink and brown hearts. Remove the centres of the hearts with a slightly smaller heart cutter, then fill them again with the opposite coloured small heart.  Place the cookies on the baking trays a few centimetres apart to allow for spreading, then bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool before eating. You can store any leftover cookies in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.....

Happy Baking xx