January Crafting!

One of my resolutions this month (turns out I'm better at monthly goals than yearly ones) was to start a craft group and, guess what, I did! A bunch of us got together this last week and did Valentine's Day crafts (at my house!).


I loved it! And now I have a few weeks to enjoy my crafts before Valentine's Day is over.

We made hanging paper hearts....

Hooray for Angela (my friend that sits next to me in all of my classes) not giving up on those. What a trooper.

(You're supposed to put candy in them-- unless you have kitties that bat at the hearts and knock the m&ms onto the floor so that they can play with them. Then you don't put candy in them.)

Felt fortune cookies...


And little candy boxes.


This was Heather's favorite project.

And then afterward we ate pretty cookies that I learned how to make last February in my Pleasanton ward.


I saved the recipe for a year and finally got to make them for people. (Plus I got to use my Bosch and my food processor!) I'm tempted to find something else to make them for again before Valentine's Day. I promised a few of the girls that I'd post the recipe so, here it is in all of its glory.


Raspberry Linzer Heart Cookies
1 1/2 cups walnuts, toasted and cooled
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar, plus extra for dusting
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup cornstarch
raspberry jam

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the walnuts and 1 cup of the flour until the nuts are finely ground; do not overprocess. Set aside.

In a bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat together the butter and the 1 cup sugar until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the walnut mixture, the remaining flour, and the cornstarch until blended.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball and then flatten the balls into disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about two hours.

Position a rack in the upper third of an oven and preheat to 325 F. Butter two large baking sheets. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out a dough disk 1/4" thick. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out hearts. Transfer half of the hearts to a prepared baking sheet. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter 1 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out a heart from the center of each of the remaining heart cutouts, creating heart frames to use as cookie tops. Transfer to the other prepared sheet. Gather up and reroll the smaller hearts* and scraps, then cut out more tops and bottoms. Repeat with the remaining disks.

Bake until just golden, about 15 minutes for the bottoms and 12 minutes for the tops. Let cool completely on racks.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, dust the heart frames evenly with confectioners sugar. Using a small butter knife, spread raspberry jam over the tops of the large hearts. Place the sugar-dusted frames atop the larger hearts. Store in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to three days.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies. (Which really means it makes about half that since you have the tops and bottoms...)

* I cook the smaller hearts and dip them (halfway) in chocolate.

And that was our craft night.