These sweet treats are in honour of the woman some have dubbed our next Queen of Hearts.
At 29 she’ll be the oldest royal bride ever, but to her Prince we hear she’s ‘Babykins’.
It’s worth noting that these are no infantile biscuits.
There are touches of hazelnut and caramel for her golden eyes and impossibly glossy hair. There’s a little sprinkling of lurid green in the lime zest to remind us of the last fashion faux pas she’ll be permitted.
Then there are the heart shaped biscuits themselves, which with the comforting taste of shortbread take us straight back to St Andrews in Scotland; where this fairytale romance first began.
When consumed with a cup of tea, they’re the perfect happily ever after.
Hazelnut shortbread hearts
Makes around 20-30 biscuits.
Equipment
1 baking tray. 2 heart shaped biscuit rings of different sizes. 1 spatula. 1 mixing bowl.
Shopping/foraging
125 grams butter
60 grams icing sugar
65 grams cornflour
125 grams plain flour (I use a combination of white plain flour and wholemeal plain flour).
Caramel cream filling
Half a cup of cream cheese.
Half a cup of dark muscovado sugar (brown sugar)
Other toppings
Zest of one lime
Half a cup of toasted hazelnuts, cut into halves or quarters.
Here’s how we roll
1. Mix the softened butter and icing/powdered sugar until well combined.
2. Sift in the flour and mix until just combined. Place in a refrigerator until cold enough to be rolled.
3. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, or sheet of baking paper, using another sheet of baking paper over the top to protect your rolling pin.
4. Use the heart shaped cookie cutters to make shapes.
To make the outline of the hearts put the smaller cookie cutter inside the larger one. Remove the smaller heart and keep the border.
5. Bake at 180 C or 350°F until light golden brown. This should take between 12 and 15 minutes.
6. To make the caramel cream filling mix the brown sugar and the cream cheese together. Chill in the fridge until needed.
7. To assemble; spread some caramel cream on the base of one of the biscuits. Top with lime zest, a heart cut out cookie and a hazelnut.
Other items in the Royal Wedding Feast:
Her Majesty’s Cucumber Chicken Crowns
Prince William Pork Wellington
Prince Harry Spiced Ginger Relish
Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s Organic Lemon Curd and Strawberry Parfait
Catherine Middleton Hazelnut Hearts
I reckon you should send her a box, never know she could become a repeat customer! They do sounds really delicious
These look delish! I don't know why, but I seem to crush my buscuits into vanilla ice cream these days…my version of cookies n cream I guess!
Aww so sweet! I loved princess Diana so I'm eager to see what Kate is like as a Princess. She has great style!
I can vouch for the fact that these are absolutely delicious! Yum yum – happy house guest – yum yum!
So pretty! Very appropriate indeed!
It's good to hear that though she's the oldest bride – she'll be the first with a university degree! Unbelievable really! Love the effort & thought gone into these creations – from the flurry of Royal Family related posts – you'll be glued to the tube come April 29th then? Can we expect a full Royal degustation coming soon? Don't forget your hats – apparently when the Queen was married, they were worried about the radio broadcasts because they thought it might be inappropriate if women listened to it without their hats on.
ooh these look a bit gorgeous! I'm meant to be going to a couple of tea parties this Friday, I reckon these would go down an absolute storm