Heart Tarts

by Catherine Newman

Calling all sweetie pies! This homemade take on toaster pastries makes a lip-smacking valentine snack. To serve it as a classroom treat, simply double or triple the recipe as needed.

Serves: 9
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

TARTS
Prepared piecrust
Jar of strawberry jam
1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water
FROSTING AND DECORATIONS
2 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon softened butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
Red food coloring
Nonpareils or colored sugar

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400° and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
On a floured surface, roll out the piecrust to a 1/8-inch thickness. Use a large heart-shaped cookie cutter (ours measures 4 inches wide) to make pairs of hearts, gathering the scraps and rerolling the dough as necessary.
For each tart, spread 2 teaspoons of strawberry jam on a heart, leaving a ½-inch margin on all sides. Brush the egg mixture around the edge before placing a second heart on top. Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges, then brush the tops with the egg mixture.
Bake the hearts on the prepared cookie sheet until their edges are just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Let them rest on the sheet a few minutes, then move them to a rack and let them cool completely.
Whisk the first four frosting ingredients in a medium bowl, adding more water a teaspoon at a time if needed to make a smooth, creamy frosting. Add a few drops of food coloring and mix until well blended. Spoon the frosting into a ziplock bag, snip off a corner, and squeeze it onto the tarts. Top them with nonpareils or colored sugar.