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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Experimental Hearts





 



I found a Vegan frozen sweet short pastry in the supermarket, and I wanted to try it. Actually, I like making short pastry, but making Vegan short pastry is not that easy (for me) so I was really curious.




Because the pastry is already rolled it was easy to cut it with a cookie cutter, and I opted for hearts.







Up to here everything was fine, but then the pastry shrunk in the oven! My pretty fat hearts became long quirky hearts! Did this ever happen to you?


My solution: transform the hearts into pretty-quirky-modern-art hearts with some glossy icing. I did the borders white first, and then I coloured some icing with saffron powder for yellow (this also gave the biscuits a lovely saffron aroma and flavour), cocoa for chocolate, and then I added a drop of red food colouring to the yellow saffron icing for a geranium orange/red. The colour reminded me of lipstick and nail polish, but I liked it! The kids took the biscuits to the Surf Life Saving Club and they were all eaten happily, but next time I think that I will stick to my own pastry :-).






Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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28 comments:

  1. VanilleApril 13, 2011 at 1:51 PM

    Weird that the pastry shrunk, but at least you did find a pretty trick with those colourful iced hearts.

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  2. muppyApril 13, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    I think they look cute like that :) I think if you let the hearts rest a while before baking they may have shrunk less but I'm really not sure :|

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  3. Nuccio GattoApril 13, 2011 at 5:17 PM

    Diciamo che l'esperimentom ti è riuscito, alla fine ti sono venuti bene, buona giornata, ciao.

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  4. MartissimaApril 13, 2011 at 7:03 PM

    esperimento deludente, come si dice? non lasciar la strada vecchia per la nuova ^_____^ ciauzzzzz
    P.S. ti ho mandato una mail

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  5. TamtamApril 13, 2011 at 7:37 PM

    a me sembrano molto carini...buona giornata

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  6. AlessandraApril 13, 2011 at 9:28 PM

    Carini son carini, se voglio i cuori 'allungti' adesso so cosa fare hahaha!

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  7. franci e valeApril 13, 2011 at 10:25 PM

    ma si che sono carini!! poi, come ho appena detto più in là, sono quasi noiose le cose troppo perfette. In cucina , come ovunque, è fondamentale saper usare fantasia e trasformare un risultato non proprio brillante in un'altra cosa, magari più fascinosa!! ciao

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  8. AlessandraApril 13, 2011 at 10:36 PM

    Beh, grazie Franci e Vale :-)

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  9. Araba FeliceApril 13, 2011 at 10:40 PM

    I cuori si sono ritirati in cottura? beh, se non l'avessi detto non ce ne saremmo accorti ;-)
    E li hai decorati in modo delizioso!

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  10. ManuApril 13, 2011 at 11:13 PM

    Ciao!!! mi ha bruciato sul tempo x i commenti . . .I ♥ these cookies! LOL

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  11. TinnyApril 14, 2011 at 12:08 AM

    Cuoricini bellissimi. Un abbraccio.

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  12. kitchen flavoursApril 14, 2011 at 2:03 AM

    You make lovely hearts. Adding saffron for colour is a great idea! Colours of lipstick and nail polish? Yes, you are right!

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  13. EleonoraApril 14, 2011 at 4:27 AM

    I think you have a problem-solving gift!

    kisses

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  14. FabipasticcioApril 14, 2011 at 4:48 AM

    Your shrinken hearts are delicious! The decoration are superb, the saffron one must be delicious to taste!
    Next time I'll try it.
    Thanks

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  15. UnknownApril 14, 2011 at 4:48 AM

    molto belli i tuoi cuoricini! ideali per regalini romantici, ma anche per pensierini di fine cena per gli ospiti! Un bacione! :-)

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  16. Mary BergfeldApril 14, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    That was quick thinking on your part. They look beautiful and no one would know you had a problem with them. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  17. UnknownApril 14, 2011 at 8:06 AM

    beh grazie per l'apprezzamento!
    un bacio
    mari

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  18. SwathiApril 14, 2011 at 8:56 AM

    Nicely decorated hearts looks awesome.

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  19. VidhyaApril 14, 2011 at 9:31 AM

    Nice way to save the cookies.They look so cute.

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  20. AlessandraApril 14, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    @ Eleonora, thanks, I hope so, same for Mary, it seems that quick thinking is what I have to do far too often (and not only in the kitchen ;-) these days!

    But I need to work on my 'quick tongue' too, in reverse :-).

    @ Fabipasticcio, yes, the saffron is great, it reminded me of the lovely saffron biscuits and sweets that the make in Sardinia.

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  21. Lorraine @ Not Quite NigellaApril 14, 2011 at 2:18 PM

    Ah well but they still look delicious! :D

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  22. koraleeApril 14, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    These are adorable!!! I love wonkie hearts...and they are not that wonkie at all. xoxoxo
    Hugs.

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  23. Sweet Snow FlakesApril 14, 2011 at 6:09 PM

    That's shocking! But they turned out really nice!!!

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  24. SarettaApril 15, 2011 at 1:25 AM

    Direi che hai fatto di necessità virtù..davvero un ottimo lavoro, come sempre!bacione

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  25. Barbara GFApril 15, 2011 at 7:34 AM

    Lovely hearts, Alessandra, elongated or not. Maybe chilling the cut dough before baking might have prevented the shrinking? Either way, they are charming!

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  26. Chiara April 15, 2011 at 7:48 AM

    sono deliziosi questi cuoricini Alessandra! un bacione...

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  27. JoApril 15, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    They look good Ale, bet the surfers loved them!

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  28. AlessandraApril 15, 2011 at 8:57 AM

    Yep Jo, they did :-)!

    @ Barbara, the dough has been defrosted at room temperature, cut and placed into the oven, and it was still quite cold. I think the fact is that instead of butter the Vegan recipe must have had some vegan shortening (certainly not olive oil!) which make the pastry shrink with heat.

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