I don’t need an excuse to bake, but since its almost St Valentines day, I thought I’d whip up a batch of cookies for my special someone. Who wouldn’t appreciate a tin of homemade goodies, right?

These baked cookies are really easy to put together, and what’s great about them is you can make the dough in advance, and freeze it. Just thaw for an hour, and they are ready to be shaped into love hearts!

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Makes 40

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium free-range eggs, beaten
1/2 lemon, rind of
300g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar

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Cream the butter, caster sugar, then add the vanilla, and lemon rind, cream until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs lightly and add to the creamed mixture. Sift the flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt, add to the egg/butter mixture. Mix in until combined.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, divide into 2, then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes. Or freeze for up to a month.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan160°C/gas 4.

Roll out one portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/2 cm. Cut out disks, using a heart cutter, and place on baking sheets lined with baking paper. Now sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar lightly over the tops of the cookies.

Re-knead and roll the trimmings to make more biscuits.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges. Carefully lift onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

Store in an airtight container for a week.