Recipe: Pastry Love Hearts

I've just stumbled across this simple but cute recipe and I thought I'd share it with you.  They are great little family treats, or would make a gorgeous hostess gift wrapped in a tissue lined box.

Ingredients:

2 sheets of puff pastry (slightly thawed)
300ml double cream
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbsp of icing sugar
100g dark chocolate, melted
Heart cookie cutter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Line a sheet baking tray with baking paper

2. Take one sheet of pastry, leaving the other in the fridge, and cut out hearts using the cookie cutter. Place the heart shapes onto a tray lined with baking paper. It’s important to make sure the pastry is cold, if it gets warm place it back into the fridge to chill it

3. Cook the hearts for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.   Remove from oven and place them on wire racks to cool

4. In a medium-sized bowl, add the cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar.  Beat altogether with an electric mixer until soft peaks form

5. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a heatproof bowl.  Sit the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt, stirring occasionally

6. Use a knife to split the now cooled hearts in two, so you have a top and a bottom.  Spoon some cream onto the bottom half, replace the top and drizzle with the melted chocolate.