Fruity Preserve Filled Heart Sugar Cookies

Scroll down to find the recipe for these as well as step-by-step instructions with large and clear photos. I use a delicious vanilla dough but you could use your own dough recipe. A chocolate dough with a cherry jam filling would be equally as divine. Let me know what you think at the end in the comments. Happy baking, Marie!

Image Credit: All baking images on this page are the property of the author.

Use a large bowl and add in your sugar and your butter which needs to be softened. You can soften the butter by leaving it out of your refrigerator for a while or pop it in a microwave in 10 second increments until it is soft to the touch.

Mix your butter and sugar together. I prefer to use an electric mixer on low to mix my cookie dough but you can also do it by hand with a large mixing spoon - it just takes longer. Once your butter and sugar are nicely mixed together, add in the vanilla and beaten egg to the mixture. You can then mix this together with your spoon or your electric mixer.

Now you can sift your flour into the bowl and then mix it into all the other ingredients - except for the jam! You can use a mixing spoon to combine all the ingredients. I cheat and use a quick blast of my electric mixer which turns everything into a crumbly mess - don't panic because you then use your hands to push and squeeze all the dough together.

Pack the dough into a firm ball shape and wrap it in plastic food wrap. Place your dough into your refrigerator for 30 mins or so just so it makes it a little firmer to roll out and cut.

When the dough is chilled, roll half of it onto a floured work surface. Rolling it all out in one go might prove to be too large for your work surface. The dough can be pretty thin because it will have two layers. I make mine around 5mm thick.

You need 2 heart cutters, one small enough to cut away inside the other and leave a decent sized border. Cut two pieces of dough with the larger heart cutter. Leave the first heart as it is and then cut-away a little heart from the center of the second piece of dough.

The little heart you've cut away can be rolled up again to cut more cookies or you can bake it as a mini heart cookie. Keep cutting these hearts (1 whole heart and one with a cutaway heart section) until all your dough is used up. I carefully place my cut pieces onto lightly floured trays while I work.

I adore fruit preserves and make my own from the blackberries which grow at the end of our garden. Strawberry jelly is good for these because it has a bright red color so is ideal for a Valentine theme. But you can use any fruit preserve that you want and match the color to the occasion that you're baking for.

Put a small amount of this in a little pot and warm in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds. Add a small amount of jelly to the middle of each whole heart - I use about half a teaspoon and spread it on with the spoon, making sure you don't go right to the edge.

Carefully place your cut-away heart over the top of the heart with jam on, positioning it so that the edges meet up nicely.

I won't lie to you - this is the trickiest part! It isn't hard but it does require slowing down a little in order to match the edges of each piece up as best you can. Be gentle with the dough as you can pull it out of shape if you aren't.

Once your heart pieces are together then gently press down around the edges of the dough with your fingertips to seal them. If any jam does ooze out, use a damp cloth to wipe it away else these bits will burn in the oven.

Put your Heart Cookies onto lightly floured baking trays, leaving a small gap around each one, and bake on Gas 4 (350°F / 177°C) for 10-12 minutes. The cookies don't expand in the oven. I like to turn mine round halfway through because I have a gas oven and the ones at the back are likely to burn if I don't. I like to get a nice pale brown, creamy color.

Once done, place your fruity hearts onto a cooling rack until ready to eat. I hope you've enjoyed reading my wizzles page today, thanks for your visit. I wonder how long you can wait before trying one out!