Fudge Filled Shortbread Hearts for Valentine’s Day

Ahhh, shortbread.  A delicious, flaky, buttery cookie that I love to hate. 

First off, it simply can’t be good for you.  After all, this recipe calls for almost a POUND of butter. 

Second, it’s such a pain in the butt to work with.  *Not* the kind of cookie I recommend rolling out and cutting out with your kids, unless you want them to hear you muttering profanities under your breath while you try to keep the dough from crumbling all over the place while your roll and cut it.

That said, I am NOT trying to talk you out of baking with shortbread, because the results are a delicious, buttery cookie that people will RAVE over.  Today I filled these amazing little cookies with a decadent fudgy frosting.  You could also fill them with jam or preserves and sprinkle them with powdered sugar…

Mmmmmm…. Yummmy….

I cut these out into little hearts and cut a second heart into half the cookies so that the frosting would poke through and I could fill them up with little sprinkles….

Aren’t they cute little Valentine’s Day cookies?

Now, get off your butt and bake them!

Shortbread recipe from the Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Fudge Frosting filling:1 1/2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt; then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. It will be CRUMBLY!!  Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and roll shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter.  Cut a smaller heart with a smaller cutter out of half of the cookies.  Place the cookies on an ungreased sheet pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

For the filling:
Melt chocolate and butter in small heavy saucepan over low heat; stir to blend.

Beat in powdered sugar. Beat in egg white and vanilla, adding a little water, if necessary, to make smooth, slightly soft frosting.
 
Spread some fudgy goodness onto each solid heart, and place another cookie with the little heart cut out over the top of each one.
 
Cover with sprinkles if desired.
 
Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!