Heart-Shaped Recipes
With Valentine’s Day just 5 days away, here are a few heart-shaped recipes that are in keeping with this holiday. Some require a recipe and others are just thrown together simply. If you want to send a message of love to your family and friends, these heart-shaped recipes are perfect.
Main Course
Heart and Sole
This recipe not only tastes great, but it’s a bit interactive too. From the February 1998 issue of Food & Wine, the 4 servings main course is called Heart and Sole. Your guests may never know, but even the paper pouch plays into the them. Unfolded, it’s cut in the shape of a heart. You can find parchment paper at your local grocery store or here.
The recipe is in detail below, but first you cut parchment paper into heart shapes. Lightly brush the hearts with olive oil and place ingredients (filet of sole, artichoke hearts and an herbal butter) in the center of the heart.
Fold the paper over to enclose the fish and crimp the edges of the paper to seal. I also tie baker’s twine around the package to keep it from leaking. I seem to use baker’s twine for everything. It is handy to keep in the kitchen and you can find it here.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the packages are puffed and lightly browned. Such an easy, fun and delicious recipe. I suppose you could use other fish but Heart and Sole sounds the best!
Heart-Shaped Ravioli
Making your own pasta from scratch seems intimidating, but it only requires a few ingredients and the right tools. Fortunately, I have a pasta attachment that connects to the front of my Kitchen-Aid mixer. But you can make pasta with a hand-held pasta maker, or if you can just roll the dough very thin. These are the ravioli attachments I have for my stand mixer.
You will need a heart-shaped cookie cutter, or if you prefer use a round one. The hearts make it extra festive for Valentine’s Day too. Here is the set I just recently purchased from Amazon.
Naturally, you can add any filling but this recipe calls for a 4-cheese one. This would be a very fun recipe to make with children too.
A simple marinara sauce or a vodka cream tomato sauce adds that Valentine’s Day red!
To see the detailed directions and link to the recipe, click here.
Desserts
There is a plethora of Valentine desserts to make, but here are few of my favorite. I’ll start with the easy ones made with store-bought items.
Heart hand pies
Using store bought pie crust and canned pie filling and heart-shaped cookie cutters, you can make these cute hand pies rather quickly. My favorite pie crust is from Trader Joe’s, however, Pillsbury or another brand should work just fine.
Defrost your pie crust dough (I generally do this by letting it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours) and roll it out on a floured surface. Cut your heart shapes. Add a spoonful of canned pie filling (here I use canned cherry pie filling; not the cherries in water), and then add a top heart and crimp the edges with a fork. You may need to brush a small amount of water to get the two crusts to stick together better, or crimping alone may work.
Brush the top of each heart with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Check the directions on your pie crust box and bake to the temperature they suggest (350 -400 degrees should work). Depending on your oven, check the hearts at 25 minutes to see if they are golden brown.
Valentine Pie
You can turn any pie into a Valentine one with the simple addition of pie crust heart shaped cut-outs. Using a store-bought crust and a canned pie filling, save some extra dough to roll out and make hearts. Affix them to the top crust with a little water. Finish it off with an egg wash and bake.
Chocolate Strawberry Hearts
I have no idea of the origin of this recipe, but I have been making it for years. The prep time is rather fast at 30 minutes, as all the ingredients for the chocolate brownie biscuits are made in a food processor.
Using sour cream, whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract the creamy, flavorful filling sits inside the biscuit along with fresh strawberries. The finishing touch is a drizzle of hot fudge sauce. Truly yummy. Recipe is below.
Cherry Cobbler
This recipe takes a bit more time, but it is a winner. Instead of dolloping the biscuit dough on top of the cherries, I pre-cook them as hearts. The recipe calls for Morello cherries. If they are not in season at Trader Joe’s, you can find them on Amazon here.
And the dessert looks just beautiful at the dinner table. Serve with fresh whipped cream and/or a splash of Chambord liquor and the bowls will be licked clean. To see the full tutorial and recipe, click here.
Of course, recently I did share my Valentine Linzer cookies which are equally delicious and you can see that post here.
My husband and I always celebrate Valentine’s Day at home. We find it more relaxing and we get to cook what we want to eat. Perhaps it isn’t as romantic as going to a lovely restaurant, but that’s what happens after 27 years of marriage!
I hope this inspires you to make something heart-shaped. Happy Wednesday, friends!
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This post shared with Fabulous Friday Link Party #2.
Heart and Sole
The paper pouch plays into the Valentine's Day theme. Unfolded, it's cut into the shape of a heart.
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter (softened)
- 1/4 cup mixed chopped herbs, such as parsley, chives and mint
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- olive oil
- 2 1/4 lbs sole fillets
- 1 9 oz. package frozen artichoke hearts (thawed, patted dry and halved lengthwise)
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In a small bowl, mash the butter with the herbs, lemon juice, lemon zest, 1 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of pepper. Refrigerate, covered for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.
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Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut 6 hearts out of parchment paper. Brush the top of the paper with olive oil. Evenly divide the sole fillets amount the paper hearts, placing the fish on the right side of each heart. Season the fish with salt and pepper and top with the artichokes and 1 tablespoon of the herb butter. Fold the papers over to enclose the fish. Crimp the edges of the paper to seal.
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Arrange the packages on 2 large baking sheets and brush them lightly with oil. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the packages are puffed and lightly brown. Transfer the packages to the plates and serve.
Chocolate Strawberry Heartcakes
These yummy cakes are filled with a luscious filling, strawberries and topped with hot fudge.
Chocolate Brownie Biscuits
- 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- dash of salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp butter (cut into 4 pieces)
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
Filling and Topping
- 1 pint fresh strawberries
- 2-3 tbsp sugar (to taste)
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp confectioners sugar
- hot fudge sauce
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Place rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 450 degrees F
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To make biscuits: In a food processor with the metal blade or in a medium bowl with a fork or pastry blender, combine flour, baking powder, soda, cocoa, salt and sugar. Add butter and pulse or mix until it's the consistency of coarse meal. Add chocolate chips and buttermilk and mix until moistened and dough begins to hold together. Do not make into a ball.
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Turn out onto a floured board; dough will be sticky. Knead 5 times and pat into a 1-inch thick circle. Cut out 4 biscuits with a floured 2" heart-shaped cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes.
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Hull and quarter berries; toss with sugar. Set aside.
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Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add sour cream, sugar and vanilla, beating until soft peaks form.
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To assemble: Split biscuits. Place bottom half on plate. Top with berries and cream. Place half biscuit on top. Drizzle with fudge sauce. Serve immediately.
