I'm not a heart-skippy, giddy-about-Valentine's-Day kinda gal. But I do like a good biscuit, and what better excuse to use my increasing collection of cookie cutters than Valentine's Day?

So I made these. They're pretty-in-pink Linzer Heart Sandwich Cookies made using my scalloped circle and miniature heart cookie cutters. I was feeling rather out of inspiration, so I had a look through pinterest for some ideas and happened upon this recipe from Martha Stewart's website for Pecan Linzer Cookies. I changed the shape, as you can see, and I opted for home-made plum jam instead of cherry jam. I also sandwiched half of the cookies with jam, and the other half sandwiched with Nutella chocolate spread.

















They took a really long time to make. I'm a 'fair weather baker' (as Mister Bakercourt always says about football) and I really don't like to fuss over recipes when a simpler one will do. I've made some demanding things in the past (like the prinzregententorte!) and these linzer cookies were on par. You have to make the dough and then refrigerate for 2 hours. Then, you roll it out and refrigerate again for another 20 minutes.















Then you cut out, and bake. I made smaller biscuits than suggested in the recipe (they're just smaller than two inches wide) so it made about thirty biscuits (doubled, like you see above) and about thirty other shapes which I made when I got tired of cutting out scalloped/fluted circles. In between baking, I stored the cut shapes in the fridge. All in all, it took around fifty minutes more to bake the smaller biscuits on one tray at a time in the oven.

After they've cooled down, you need to reduce the jam for the sandwiching and that takes another ten to fifteen minutes in total before you can spread it, so I opted for some other fillings for the extra biscuits to pass the time. For interest's sake, these biscuits are really nice when dipped in melted chocolate!















These are really nutty biscuits (they have almost a cup of pecan nuts in them) and aren't very sweet, so it's important to use a nice filling that adds the right amount of sweetness for the biscuit. I added in a bit of extra sugar when blending with the butter, I doubled the cinnamon like I usually do, and they turned out really nicely. They're ideal for those who don't like double-chocolate-sugar-dipped cookies, but who still like a bit of nutty indulgence with a cuppa.

Here's the recipe again: Martha Stewart's Pecan Linzer Cookies with Cherry Jam