For all the romantics out there this Valentine’s, I came up with this recipe just for you 🙂 The sweet scent of strawberries and roses complement the subtle rye flavour of these piped cookies. This recipe is based on sablé Viennois, which means Viennese sablés. I love them for their unique tender and crumbly texture. To add a lovely touch, I dipped them in a strawberry couverture coating. I love Valrhona’s new “Inspiration” fruit-forward couvertures, not only they are delicious, they are also vega. The collection includes yuzu, strawberry, and passion fruit. If you can’t get your hands on some, good old milk or dark chocolate couvertures are classics to use.
Strawberry Rose Hearts
Ingredients
Cookie dough
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2-1/2 tsp light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp egg whites room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup light rye flour
Glaze
- 3/4 cup strawberry couverture chocolate preferably Valrhona Strawberry Inspiration
- 2 tbsp cocao butter
- 1-1/2 tsp neutral tasting oil, such as canola
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F and place a rack in the middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a separate sheet of parchment paper to make a stencil for the heart shapes you are going to pipe the cookie dough onto later (about 5 cm / 2” large heart rings spaced 4 cm / 1-1/2” apart).
- To make the dough, beat the butter, salt, both sugars in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment at medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Add in the egg whites, vanilla, and beat on medium speed until the mixture cohesive. Add in the flour and rye flour and mix until just well incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. Transfer the dough into a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm wide open star piping tip. Place the stencil parchment paper underneath the clean parchment paper on the baking sheet. You should be able to see the heart shapes on the paper below. Slowly pipe cookies onto the parchment lined baking sheet into the shapes. Carefully remove the stencil under the cookies and use it for the next tray.
- Bake the cookies one tray at a time for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, rotating the tray halfway through. Cool the cookies to room temperature before glazing them.
- To make the glaze, heat the ingredients in a double boiler over low heat until it reaches 30-35 degrees Celsius, while stirring the chocolate, and careful not to overheat it. Take it off the heat when the glaze is ready. Dip each cookie half and let the excess drip off. Place the cookies back onto the parchment lined tray. Before the chocolate sets, sprinkle each one with crushed dried rose petals. Let the chocolate set and cool completely before serving.
I find that the secret to the perfect cookies is to bake these low and slow to make sure all they are thoroughly dry so they have a nice crumbly texture. If you are serious on making these the best cookies, invest in high quality butter, such as ones with 82-84% milk fat. It makes a big difference for the taste and texture. They could be even better if you can find cultured butter as it will add a depth of flavour.
As you might figured, you can pipe these cookies any shapes you want. The key is consistent ones is to making a stencil. If you decided to pipe other shapes, they might need different baking times in which case just watch the colour as they bake and adjust accordingly.
This recipe is also featured o.canada.com and on this weekend’s Province. For more Valentine’s day ideas on the blog:
- Salted Dark Caramel Chocolate Tarts
- Chocolate Crème Caramel
- Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Cake with Whipped Matcha Ganache
Have a happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. Hope it is filled with love and more!
