These Cherry Bakewell Hearts make the perfect treat for your loved ones on Valentine’s Day. A flakey shortcrust pastry is filled with a delicious sweet frangipane and cherry jam and then baked until golden and topped with a patterned vanilla icing.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE
Delicious Bakewell flavour | Bakewell is a hugely popular flavour, which is no surprise because the sweet almond filling and delicious cherry jam really are a perfect match.
Fun novelty heart design | This fun heart shaped hand pie is a great novelty way to celebrate Valentine’s or any celebration where you want to bake to show someone you love them. You could also try using lots of different shapes such as stars, circles or a standard rectangle shaped pop tart design.
Perfect gift for loved ones | These Cherry Bakewell Hearts are the perfect gift because they can be easily packaged into individual gift bags and sent off to all your loved ones. They will all really appreciate the effort taken to make something homemade for them and they’ll be even more delighted with the flavour. Food is the ultimate I love you gift!
HOW TO MAKE THESE CHERRY BAKEWELL HEARTS
See below for step by steps and images on how to make these delicious Cherry Bakewell Hearts, but make sure to check the recipe for the full ingredients and method
Make shortcrust pastry | In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and icing sugar. Add the cold butter and rub the cubes together with the flour between your fingers until it reaches a breadcrumb consistency.
Add the egg using a fork to mix it into the flour then add 1 tablespoon of the ice-cold water and use your fingertips to bring the dough together to a ball.
Fill pastry with frangipane and cherry jam | Lightly flour a heart-shaped cookie cutter and stamp out as many shapes as you can. Pull together the scraps of dough and re-roll to get the remaining heart shapes. You should end up with 16 heart shapes in total.
Carefully place half of the hearts onto a baking tray lined with baking paper then in the centre of each heart spread across 1 tsp of frangipane followed by 1 tsp of cherry jam
Seal and glaze | With the remaining pastry hearts, gently place them on top of each of the filled heart shapes and press them down gently with your fingers. Use a fork to press around the edges of the hearts to seal completely, then place them all back in the fridge to chill. Brush some egg-wash over the tops of all tarts.
Bake | Bake for 25-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Top with icing and decorate | Make the vanilla icing by mixing together icing sugar with 2-3 tbsp water and vanilla, until you have a thick icing that can be easily spread on top of each of the tarts.
Take 1/4 of the icing and colour it a light pink tone, then fill a piping bag with the icing and leave aside.
Top each tart with a tsp of the vanilla icing then decorate each in your chosen pattern.
Polka dot hearts | Pipe small dots of pink icing across the top of the vanilla icing then use a toothpick and drag it through the pink dots from the top down to create a heart shape
Feathered effect | Pipe lines of pink icing horizontally across the vanilla icing. Use a toothpick and drag it through the lines vertically going top to bottom, then bottom to top to create the feathered look.
TOOLS YOU WILL NEED
Most of the tools and ingredients to make these Cherry Bakewell Hearts should already be in your cupboards but just in case see the list below of the key tools and ingredients you will need.
- Flat Baking Sheet
- Non-stick Baking Paper
- Large mixing bowl
- Pastry Blender
- Rolling Pin
- Pastry Brush
- Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter
Shop these Tools
LOVE THE BAKEWELL FLAVOUR? TRY THESE RECIPES
I would love it if you tagged me @mykitchendrawer on Instagram if you make these Cherry Bakewell Hearts. It’s the biggest honour to see my recipes come to life in your kitchen and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to drop me a message. Happy baking!
Cherry Bakewell Hearts
Ingredients
For the Shortcrust Pastry
- 250 g plain flour
- 40 g icing sugar
- 125 g unsalted butter cold
- 3 eggs large
For the Filling
- 40 g unsalted butter softened
- 30 g caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 70 g ground almonds
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 3 tbsp cherry jam
- 1/2 tbsp cornflour
Instructions
For the Shortcrust Pastry
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and icing sugar. Add the cold butter and rub the cubes together with the flour between your fingers until it reaches a breadcrumb consistency with a few small pieces of butter still visible.
- Make a well in the centre and add the egg using a fork to mix it into the flour. Add 1 tablespoon of the ice-cold water then use your fingertips to bring the dough together to a ball.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured countertop, and shape it into a ball, taking care not to overwork it. Wrap it well in clingfilm then chill the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour to rest while you make the frangipane filling.
For the filling
- For the frangipane filling combine the softened butter with the sugar then add in the egg and both vanilla and almond extracts and whisk them all in together well.
- Add the ground almonds and flour then gently fold them through the mixture until smooth
- For the cherry jam; add the cherry jam to a bowl and mix in the cornflour until well combined.
Assemble the tarts
- After an hour, remove the dough from the fridge and lightly flour your countertop and rolling pin.
- Rolling from the centre outward, roll the dough to a thickness of about 3mm thick.
- Lightly flour a 6cm heart-shaped cookie cutter and stamp out as many shapes as you can. Pull together the scraps of dough and re-roll to get the remaining heart shapes. You should end up with 16 heart shapes in total.
- Carefully place half of the hearts onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- In the centre in each heart spread across 1 tsp of frangipane followed by 1 tsp of cherry jam
- With the remaining pastry hearts, gently place them on top of each of the filled heart shapes and press them down gently with your fingers. Use a fork to press around the edges of the hearts to seal completely, then place them all back in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Brush some egg-wash over the tops of all tarts then bake for 25-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Decorate the tarts
- One baked remove the tray from the oven and carefully transfer the tarts to a wire rack to cool.
- Make the vanilla icing by mixing together 150g icing sugar with 2-3 tbsp water and 1 tsp vanilla, until you have a thick icing that can be easily spread on top of each of the tarts.
- Take 1/4 of the icing and colour it a light pink tone, then fill a piping bag with the icing and leave aside.
- Top each tart with a tsp of the vanilla icing then decorate each in your chosen pattern.
- Polka dot hearts | Pipe small dots of pink icing across the top of the vanilla icing then use a toothpick and drag it through the pink dots from the top down to create a heart shape
- Feathered effect | Pipe lines of pink icing horizontally across the vanilla icing. Use a toothpick and drag it through the lines vertically going top to bottom, then bottom to top to create the feathered look.
- Leave the icing to set for 30 minutes then your Bakewell Hearts are ready to serve.
