Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be as fun without sweets. Along with a special Valentine’s Day meal, you, of course, also need a special, heart-shaped, Valentine’s dessert (and plenty of chocolate)!
Catherine McCord is the founder of the recipe blog Weelicious, and author of Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh and Easy Recipes, and the Smoothie Project. (She also happens to be a judge on Guy Fieri’s new show, Guy’s Grocery Games.)
McCord gave us a dessert recipe that’s delicious and Insta-worthy. Make a batch and share them with your loved ones this weekend! They will appreciate receiving something sweet…
Raspberry Cream Cheese Heart Tarts
(Makes 10-11 Heart Tarts) / Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 25 mins
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup raspberries
- 1/4 cup whipped cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 14-ounce box refrigerated pie dough (2 sheets), thawed if frozen (you can substitute your favorite pie crust recipe for store-bought. Make enough for 2 crusts)
- water
- For Raspberry Icing:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup frozen raspberries, defrosted
- 1 tablespoon milk or water
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the raspberries, cream cheese and honey in a bowl. Using the back of a fork, mash the raspberries with the cream cheese, leaving some pieces of raspberry intact.
3. Roll the pie crust 1/4 inch thick and using a 4-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out hearts (or, if you are using packaged pie crust just unroll and cut out hearts).
4. Place one heart on a lightly floured work surface and place 2 tsp of the cream cheese mixture in the very center, leaving a 1/4″ border around the cut-out.
5. Lightly dip your index finger into a cup of water and “brush” the border with the water (this will allow the two sides of the heart to adhere to one another).
6. Top with another heart and take the tines of a fork and gently press down along the edges to adhere (making sure the cream cheese mixture stays inside the heart pocket). With a toothpick, poke some holes in the top of the heart to remove any air pockets.**
7. Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
8. While the hearts are baking, take the defrosted raspberries, place in a strainer and press down with the back of a spoon to release raspberry juice into a bowl — should be about 2 tablespoons of juice depending on how juicy the raspberries are.
9. Whisk in the milk into the raspberry juice, then slowly pour in the powdered sugar to make icing.
10. When cool, take a spoon and spread the raspberry icing over the hearts.
11. Serve.
* You can use prepared Pie Crusts too such as Pillsbury or your favorite brand
** To Freeze: place hearts on a cookie sheet and freeze for one hour. Remove hearts and place in a ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 3 months. When ready follow steps 7-11, adding an extra 3 minutes to the baking time.
This recipe was originally published in Weelicious.
