Great Halloween Recipes
Some fabulously fun and easy Halloween treats, perfect for parties or for some creepy family fun. Made with the help of New Canaan Farms
Everyone in my family LOVES these Valentine cookies. Of course, they’re a great treat for any time of year – I’ve made them with Apricot, Blackberry and even our Lemon Fig jam and they’ve turned out great every time, but when we approach Valentines the only color to use is red. So the question was, which of our blissful red jams makes the definitive Valentine cookie?
First to assemble to dough. You can find our recipe on our dedicated recipe blogs page and it’s super easy to prepare. Once I’d rolled the balls and used my thumbs (and fingers, it can get fiddly!) to create my hearts, I was ready to go.
They ALL tasted amazing so the winner really came down to ease of filling, which sometimes also impacted on the look of the final cookie. What I forgot to do this time was to warm up each jam in the microwave for 10-12 seconds, so it slips off the spoon more easily to fill the heart shape, so I’m not sure my results were entirely fair but ah well…
Here’s the Raspberry Jam result. You can clearly see the that they are hearts, but there’s some wobbliness on the edges. I put this down to the density of this rich jam; it’s so think with fruit that it was hard to get off the spoon, and I ended up clumping the jam and overfilling these hearts a little too much. I don’t think this would have happened if I’d remembered to warm up the jam a little first.
Score: 8/10
Our Cherry Preserves are packed with whole delicious cherries, which makes it a complete treat to eat, but a bit of a tricky fill. You’ll see from the cookie on the right that I managed to slot 3 perfect cherries into the heart, but that meant that I overfilled it, causing the run-over residue. But, having 2 cherries in a heart seemed a bit paltry. This option is recommended for those of you who can craft perfect, large hearts in their cookies!
Score: 7/10
Our Texas Red Plum Jam filled perfectly and tasted absolutely wonderful. But it is a darker red jam than the others, meaning that it didn’t quite deliver that perfect ruby red heart color. Still, a great contender!
Score: 9/10
Which leads us to our champion, the delectable and ever-popular Strawberry Almond Jam. Not only does it deliver a fabulous twist on the wonderful strawberry, it is the perfect consistency to fill the heart shapes (warm or cold), and it delivers the quintessential Valentine red color. Plus, whole strawberries almost look like hearts so they’re a classic symbol of love. This is the jam featured in our recipe.
Score: 10/10
So there you have it! A fun competition with a worthy winner and a lot of great contenders. Why don’t you have a go, you may get better results?! This is a super fun activity to do with kids or grandkids in the run-up to our splendid day of love xxx
For more recipes or to browse our lovely jams, come visit us at New Canaan Farms
Main Street Utopia
282 Main Street
Utopia, TX 78884
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