Happy February, everyone! Since Valentine’s is getting close, I thought I’d give you a recipe that might be nice to make on the day. Y’know, to eat with your Ben & Jerry’s on the couch alone in the dark watching awful movies? Perfect!

These hearts are from breadworld.com, which has super reliable recipes. They thought it should have raisins, which seemed weird to me so I replaced it with chocolate. Much better.

Romance-y?

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 4 1/2 – 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 envelopes yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 large eggs

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup finely chopped milk chocolate

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 – 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the first cup of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Heat the water, milk, and butter until very warm (120-130 degrees) in another bowl.

Gradually add the liquids to the flour mixture while stirring. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed, or stir thoroughly.

Add the eggs and second cup of flour, beat another two minutes.

Add another 2 1/2 cups of flour while stirring, and as much of the remaining half cup of flour is needed to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

While you wait, you can chop of the chocolate in a food processor. It’s not necessary, but using frozen chocolate will prevent the heat from the food processor from melting the chips at all. Stir the chocolate together with the cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll each out to a 12X10″ rectangle.

Brush with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the chocolate mixture.

Roll up each tightly like a jelly roll and pinch seams. Mark each roll into 16 even pieces. It’s easiest to start by marking a line in the middle, then the quarters, and continuing until you’ve make 15 lines.

Cut at the marks, cutting 3/4 of the way through the first mark, and all the way through the second, to create two attached pieces.

Fan the two parts out to create the top of the heart, and nudge the bottom towards a point if necessary to create the bottom. Repeat with the remainder of the roll.

Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake 15-20 minutes, until browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Let cool completely, otherwise the glaze will run off when you put it on.

To make the glaze, whisk together the ingredients and drizzle over the hearts.

They’re delicious, and kind of cheerful. The glaze dries, so they’d be easy to give to someone for Valentine’s, if you wanted!

I’ll be submitting these to yeastspotting!

Cinnamon Hearts

Adapted from Breadworld.

Dough:

• 4 1/2 – 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 envelopes yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 large eggs

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup finely chopped milk chocolate

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 – 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine 1 cup of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Heat the water, milk, and butter until very warm (120-130 degrees) in a medium bowl. Gradually add the liquids to the flour mixture while stirring. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed, or stir thoroughly. Add the eggs and second cup of flour, beat another two minutes. Add another 2 1/2 cups of flour while stirring, and as much of the remaining half cup of flour is needed to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Stir together chocolate with cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll each out to a 12X10″ rectangle. Brush with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the chocolate mixture. Roll up each tightly like a jelly roll and pinch seams. Mark each roll into 16 even pieces. Cut at the marks, cutting 3/4 of the way through the first mark, and all the way through the second, to create two attached pieces. Fan the two parts out to create the top of the heart, and nudge the bottom towards a point if necessary to create the bottom. Repeat with the remainder of the roll.

Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake 15-20 minutes, until browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the glaze, whisk together the ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over hearts.