We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.

You can’t just accept it, and leave it in the cupboard,

or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it.

You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

John Lennon

In honor of Valentine’s Day,  here is a wonderful cookie recipe that works without fail. You will need to get the following ingredients.

Valentine’s Day Cookies:

• 2-1/2 sticks (250g) softened butter
• 1 cup (200g) sucanat
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Grated rind of one organic lemon
• 3-3/4 cups (500g) gluten free flour, consisting of:
• 3/4 cups (100g) brown rice flour
• 1-1/2 cups (200g) sorghum flour
• 1-1/2 cups (200g) tapioca flour
• 3 tsp. xanthan gum, or 1-1/2 tsp. guar gum
• Your favorite heart-shaped cookie cutters. Ideally, you should have a larger and a smaller size.
• Organic Powdered Sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
• Your favorite berry jam (marmelade)

 This recipe makes about 20 finished cookies, or about 40 single layer cookies.

This recipe turns out the best (and is certainly easier to prepare) with a food processor. Add the butter, sucanat, eggs, vanilla extract, salt and rind of lemon to the processor and blend well. Then, little by little, add the flour combination. The end result should be a smooth and pliable ball of dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust a baking board with a little rice flour, cut the prepared dough in half, and roll out one half to just under 1/4-inch thick.  Use the larger size heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out and place on the baking sheet. Use the same size again, but this time, cut out the center of the cookie with the smaller size heart shapped cookie cutter. Alternate back and forth, like this until you have used up the dough. The smaller heart-shaped cut outs can be used to create little tiny cookies, or just be incorporated back into the dough. Kids love the little hearts! We have also used a different cutter, to show you some other options. See the pictures below:

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 9 minutes. Watch them carefully, they should not brown, but remain a nice light golden color. Remove the baked cookies and let them cool on a wire rack.

Fill a little powdered sugar into a fine sieve and dust the tops of the cookies (the ones with the centers cut out).

Spread a thin layer of your favorite berry jam onto the bottom layer of the cookies.

As a final step, place the sugar dusted tops onto the jam covered bottom layers to create a “sandwich.”  Here is the end result!

These cookies are very light in texture, buttery and sweet with a hint of vanilla. Everything you could want in a Valentine’s Day dessert. And the best and most exciting part, they are GLUTEN FREE!  ENJOY!

We have discovered another great site, that aims to create the world’s largest interactive free cooking encyclopedia and library. You can check it out by clicking the Foodista link below. Let us know what you think!

Heart Cookies