Mother-Daughter Valentine Baking: Valentine Linzer Tarts
I always bake heart-shaped cookies to give to family and friends on Valentine’s Day. Over the years, I’ve come to realize this special time shouldn’t just be for sweethearts, but rather for all the wonderful people in our lives. What better way to convey our feelings than to send Valentine cards and homemade cookies?
Last year, we invited my mom to stay with us at Swan’s Nest for the winter. She accompanied us on our 14-hour drive from Dallas to Breckenridge, Colorado in early December. As Valentine’s Day approached, I suggested she help me bake and decorate cookies as a surprise gift for her younger sister. We set aside a day to bake together, and it will always remain a precious memory for us both.
Early that morning, I set butter and eggs aside to come to room temperature and brought flour, sugar, and other ingredients from the pantry. Mom donned the cute gingerbread man apron I had sewn for her as a Christmas gift, and we got to work measuring, mixing, rolling, and cutting cookie dough, baking, and decorating cookies. As we worked, I was deeply aware of the gift of mother and daughter baking together in my Swan’s Nest studio kitchen. it was warm and fragrant in the kitchen, while outdoors it was a winter wonderland.
Mom and I baked Valentine sugar cookies, decorated with a thin layer of frosting and tinted sprinkles, but it was the Valentine Linzer Tarts that captured her heart. These two-layer, heart-shaped vanilla cookies, sandwiched together with raspberry or strawberry jam, are European favorites. A heart-shaped hole in the upper layer offers a window to the sweet jam, and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar provides the finishing touch. Valentine Linzer Tarts are a sweetheart of a gift for friends and neighbors when tucked into clear cellophane sacs tied with red ribbon, and they ship well without crumbling when you store them in cookie tins.
Some of the best memories are truly made in the kitchen. Spending a day with my mom baking Valentine cookies in my Swan’s Nest kitchen is one of the sweetest. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Valentine Linzer Tarts
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup seedless raspberry jam
- Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with confectioners’ sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beat well, and stir in vanilla.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture to form a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out cookie dough on a floured pastry cloth or counter to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter dipped in flour, and place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Cut the centers out of half the cookies using a 1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter.
Bake 6 to 7 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are barely light brown. For high-altitude baking, you may need to add an extra minute of baking time. Remove them from the oven, set them aside to cool for 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. When the cookies are cool, spread the solid ones with raspberry jam, slightly mounding it in the center of each cookie, and top with the remaining cookies. Sift lightly with confectioners’ sugar, which will eventually melt over the jam, leaving a glossy center.
Yield: 22 to 24 cookies