Discovering Rutabagas, Valentine's Heart Cookie, and the Perfect Cookie Cutters for Making Them

The adventures from my CSA never ends. This past week I got a rutabaga in my box, which is the first I’ve seen of its kind. It resembles a very large radish, but has a mild and sweet flavor. By suggestion of my CSA organizer I chose to cut it into thinish slices, toss with some olive oil, and bake them in the oven to make chips. The end result was really yummy!! I never thought I’d say this, but hopefully I’ll be getting some more rutabagas soon.

Recipe: Heart Shaped Jam Cookies

A perfect treat for Valentine’s Day, and in my opinion the more jam the better. This recipe is adapted from a Linzer cookie I found on My Recipes.com. Feel free to keep the small heart cutouts for the tinier kids, or for the less indulgent adults.

Ingredients
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter or Earth Balance, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
raspberry jam
confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla, then flour and salt. Shape dough into 2 disks; put one into a glass storage container and refrigerate.

2. On a floured surface, roll out remaining disk to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out cookies with a heart-shaped cutter. Use a smaller heart cutter to cut a window out of half of cookies. With a spatula, carefully transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Gather scraps and roll out again to make more cookies.

3. Bake cookies in batches until edges of cookies are just golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies onto wire racks to let cool completely.

4. Spread jam over flat side of each cookie that doesn't have a window. Top with remaining cookies, flat side down, so that jam shows through windows. Carefully sift confectioners' sugar over cookies.

Product: Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters

For any heart shaped food (or playdough fun) life becomes much easier with a few appropriately shaped cookie cutters. Williams Sonoma offers these and they are a good choice because they include a diverse amount without going overboard. Happy baking, cooking, playing!

"Do all things with love." -Og Mandino