Coconut and Strawberry Macaroon Hearts for Valentine

A macaroon instead of a macaron for a change.

I have always loved macaroons, even before I knew about those pretty little temperamental french almond things I was a fan of the dense coconut confection that is a macaroon.

I used to love the chocolate dipped ones from The Shingle Inn, a bakery in Brisbane nearby where I used to work.

I have tried a few recipes over the years with less than fabulous results. Anyway I spied a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens basics magazine that I though had promise. So I made the recipe a bit smaller and added some finely chopped strawberries and the result was pretty delicious.

and of course then I shaped them into a heart for Valentines day.


Which is really only an excuse because if you have followed this blog for any length of time you would have noticed that I frequently shape or decorate things into hearts, just because they are so darn cute.

Then I made half of them into the traditional little pyramid shape which is pretty cute as well. They are the perfect bite sized treat and not overly sweet so you can have a quite a few if you are so inclined.

I was - inclined to have a few that is, in fact a few too many so sadly my plan of dipping some of the heart shaped macaroons into pink chocolate did not eventuate.

Oh well next time ;) 

Recipe after jump.

Triple Chocolate Heart Valentine cookies

Triple Chocolate Heart cookies made using my favourite super chocolate cookie recipe filled with dark and white chocolate chips. Perfect valentines for those who are looking for something that's not overly cute but still super delicious.

and I didn't even use a special heart shaped pan........that's right no special equipment here just cookies made with love. 

This trick should work for most chocolate chip cookie recipes that do not spread too much during baking. You just get 2 tear shaped bits of dough, place them together in a V and as they bake, rise and expand voila instant love hearts.


Probably works best if you chill the dough in the fridge quite a bit before shaping them into the tear drops and baking, not like the melty sticky ones in the picture above.

I also picked all the red and pink M &M's out of a mini M&M packet and stuck them on the top before baking for a bit of extra valentine cuteness.

Recipe after jump

"My love is blossoming for you" valentine cookies

'My love is blossoming for you" valentine cookies.

Yes another bunch of cute heart themed cookies, I have been a bit out of control with them, I love them, I mean who wouldn't love them.

Well I guess all the husbands and boyfriends and any other random males you might be thinking of bestowing any valentine sweetness on.


Someone mentioned they were cute but her husband would laugh at her if she gave them to him, and I guess it's true so I'll try and come up with something less loving for my next valentine post.

Although in my household, I made these and left them out whilst I popped to the shop and when I got back there weren't enough left for me to take the photo's, I had to make more.

"They smelled too good" he said, but I wasn't tricked they might pretend otherwise but men like pretty just as much as we do.


The lovely red gingham bags and twine in the photo's are from Little Sooti.

Oh and I also made some pink ones, they would look good in any colour really but I liked the red ones best.



My love is blossoming for you cookies simple instructions



These cookies were made using this sugar cookie recipe and cutting out flower shapes - the one I used was 7.25 cm and came from a set that looks like this, but don't get hung up with the sizes use what you have.

When the cookies were cooled they were covered with white fondant by rolling out fondant with a small rolling pin on a cornflour dusted surface and using the same flower cutter to cut out the fondant. I secured the fondant to the cookie with a tiny amount of water brushed onto the cookie and then carefully rolled the fondant on with the rolling pin.

I coloured some of the fondant red, rolled it out and cut small red hearts, securing them to the white fondant covered cookie with a really really tiny amount of water. In fact sometime you can lightly press it on without the water.

My heart cutter was 2.5cm (about an inch) across the widest point and came from a set that looks like this, which I got it from Little Betsy Baker.

Finally using some white royal icing I did a messy squiggly outline of the flower shape. I know my piping is not really that good at the best of times but I promise these ones were meant to be squiggly.



Let the cookies dry for a couple of hours or overnight before packing in bags.