Coconut and Jam Hearts - more Christmas baking

One morning last week B rang me and said 'Have you seen the new Donna Hay?' knowing full well that she had the advantage of downloading the fandangled iPad version. It was the very first morning the latest magazine went on sale and it was before the shops had opened so of course I had not had a chance to get down to the shops to check it out. It's no secret that both B and I have a little Donna obsession. We have collected her magazines from the beginning and since having kids, I absolutely adore the annual Kids edition. B has visited her store in Sydney a few times (thanks for the SMS'd photos - very jealous!) and we both have our favourite Donna recipes that have become staples - like orange cake and jam drops. Anyway, this month's gorgeous biscuit cover picture had us both salivating. So many potential Christmas gifts!

The coconut and jam hearts were extremely yummy and very easy to make. Confession time: I ended up having to make two batches as we ate the first batch!! Little (and big) hands just kept going back for more and before we knew it, they were gone.

Coconut and jam hearts (from Donna Hay Magazine Dec/Jan 2012 issue)

125gg butter, chopped
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
icing sugar, for dusting
raspberry or strawberry jam

Place the butter and sugar in an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. add the flour, baking powder and coconut and beat for a further 1 minute or until well combined. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and roll both portions out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper to 3mm-thick. Using a 7cm round cookie cutter, cut 12 rounds from the dough and place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.

Using a 4cm heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts from the centre of half the rounds and discard (I just added these back to the dough mixture)

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool. Dust the cut-out rounds with icing sugar. Spread the plain rounds with jam and sandwich with the cut-out rounds. Makes approx 12.

The biscuits were given as gifts and were a huge hit! I also made these fruit mince pies that you can see in this picture.

Enjoy

M
x