Valentine’s Day: Sweeten The Day With Your Unique Love (Jam Cake recipe included!)

The day of love approaches and our stores are now blooming in vibrant reds and pinks. Chocolates, hearts, flowers, and cards abound! For some this brings on a sense of pressure, for others sadness, more yet are thrilled, while plenty don’t even notice the day’s passing (or they wouldn’t if it weren’t for the barrage of color).

 

What we need to remember about this day is… love. If you love the red and pink and thrill at the thought of roses, that’s wonderful. However, we are all individuals in our own situations and frequently what the media surrounds us with does not apply to all of us, or even most of us. If what seems special to you is eating Chinese food while covered in blankets and playing a board game with your partner– DO IT! Perhaps you haven’t found someone to fit the romantic place in your world yet, then make this a day of pleasant dreaming about the endless possibilities of the future. Or there are those who don’t need that position filled just now and are perfectly content on their own, give yourself a treat and a day of love. We need to give ourselves that attention, too.

 

We all need love, this world needs love, and it doesn’t need to fit the mold we are given. Everyday should be full of this wonderful thing, but why not make an extra special day of it on the 14th. A little extra oomph to boost up the supply for the world, create more smiles, and add a little inner warmth in the depth of winter.

 

Food is often a key to the heart, whether it be someone else’s or your own, and sweets make the day all the sweeter. If you’re interested in the more traditional there are masses of chocolate and ice cream on sale at the Co-op this month! If you’re feeling like baking, there is a shortbread recipe included with a little twist to make it extra special for the day!

 

As you may know we hold Tuesday Tea Time and Poetry which is tomorrow and the cookies from this recipe will be there if you want to give them a try! As always the treat will be accompanied by one of our yummy teas.

 

Jam Cakes

makes 24 cookies

 

¾ c. butter, chilled

¼ c. sugar

2 TB. sour cream or plain yoghurt

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ c. flour

½ c. raspberry jam

Powdered sugar

Some melted semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

 

🍎 Preheat oven to 350℉.

🍎 Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.

🍎 Add sour cream (or yoghurt), vanilla, and salt. Blend well.

🍎 Add flour and beat again.

🍎 Roll a tablespoon of dough into a ball and place in each space of a mini muffin tin. Press dough with thumb to fill bottom of cup and create an indentation in the center.

🍎 Bake until edges of each cake are just golden, about 22 minutes.

🍎 Remove from oven and immediately make a ⅜” indentation in the center of each cookie. This can be ideally done with the small round end of a wooden spoon, or something similar.

🍎 If using the optional melted chocolate drop a little of it into the bottom of each indentation. Be careful, this can get messy! Then fill with jam. Or skip the chocolate and just fill with jam. They are delightful both ways.

🍎 Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

🍎 Dust with powdered sugar.

 

Fun Parting Fact: Valentine’s Day as we know it seems likely to have been started by a Chaucer poem in the late 14th century! If you’re interested in an epic dream-vision poem you can read a modern English translation of it here.

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