SWEET !! hearts

finished hor d'oeurves - ready to transport 

As stated previously, "I am not a sugar fan".

I am, however, a fan of 'cute'.
And generally (with a few exceptions) I like holidays.

Someone 'pinned' a yummy kid snack for Valentine's.

It made my brain perk right up.
It was NOT a cookie.
It did NOT have sugar as an ingredient.

I wondered if I could make it into a 'cute'  hor d'oeurve.
Could it be modified to look more grownup?
[But still be cute?]
How could it be bite size?
How could I eliminate the raw pasta?

I thought. I bought. I experimented.

What about ready made dough?
What about cocktail sausages?
What about Lit'l Smokies?
And what if they had a coupon? - Oh sure now they do!

The Lit'l Smokies are a workable idea.  I just cut them in half - more or less - on an angle. Make it a long angle. And if you need to, cut a slice out of the middle.

Each package has abt 39 ish.

Some are long. Some are short. Some are squished. Use them all. Get Creative.

This is art!

Flip one half.
Match cut sides.
Push cuts together.
Viola' - you have a heart!

I hated my first try. I used pre-made canned biscuits. I tried a little knot to hold them in place. The knot slid off. They tasted like - big surprise - biscuits. My husband liked them though.

I made a batch without knots. They still tasted like biscuits. I gave them to my grand-kids.

My daughter suggested a no brainer idea to hold the pieces together. What about frilled toothpicks? Sure enough, you can pick those up at the grocery store.

So I thought about and priced crackers.
Could I just pre-cook the Lit'l Smokies?
No way ... I am too cheap!
Snack Crackers are expensive.

A friend once gave me an excellent Crescent Roll recipe.
Thanks Caye. These are ALWAYS good.
And so easy too.

I made some dough.

I rolled it out and cut out some hearts.
Look at that - works just like making cookies.
Except you need to not stretch them.
Or let them raise too much before placing them.
Just cut out a few at once and then move to the pan.

REMEMBER - this is fun!

Let them be a little this way and that way.

Who said hearts have to be any certain shape?


I enjoyed matching hotdog shapes to dough shapes.

I filled 2 large pans full.
Each pan had about 20 hearts.
The basic recipe made about 80 hearts.

I cut the Lit'l Smokies after placing the dough hearts on the pans. The dough had started to raise a little. I pressed the 'heart' sausage into the centre of the dough heart firmly.

I cut the dough ball  in half, filled 2 pans with dough hearts, added the sausages, then did 2 more with the other half of the dough. Meanwhile the scraps I had kneaded into a ball from the first half had raised.

I rolled them once more. Those tended to 'distort' more and 'shrink' after cutting. No problem - they were just a bit more 'bite size'.

I covered them with a clean damp dishtowel, and put the pans in the cold storage area to raise overnight. It was late. I went to bed. And to sleep!  They raised in the cold about 5 hours.   I got up early. I brought them in the warm kitchen and turned on the oven. I set the timer. Not for the rolls - for me, silly - I went to sleep for half an hour while they both warmed up.

I baked them at about 350 ° F for about 10 minutes - just until golden. [My oven tends to bake a bit unevenly so I turned the pan half way through.] 

After baking I brushed the edges with melted butter (yes it has to be real butter). You can use shortening but that is what they will taste like. I like butter. As they cool the sausage pieces may seperate - do not worry ...

After cooling them I skewered the 'heart' sausage together with the frilled toothpick and put a wedge of cheese on the point.  They now look like Cupid's arrow has struck.

I refuse to tell you how to cut a triangle out of cheese. You can do it. TRY! This is supposed to be ... oh, never mind - just go cut cheese your way.

I shared these with coworkers. They loved them.

They wanted the instructions and recipe.
This is as close as it gets.

One lady is going to use them at a wedding!!

Use any recipe you like for dough.
I like Caye's. [see comments below]

And have a wonderful Valentine's Day.
If you make treats and give them to your 'Valentines' you will.
What - some of you don't think you have any??
How can that be???

Duh - you can go first!
Just do it!
Tell someone you love them.
Seriously!

And if no one sends you a Valentine why not make some for yourself?

Enjoy!