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The Valentine holiday has origins in the pagan festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February, to celebrate the coming of Spring. It included fertility rites where men would strip naked and sacrifice a goat, and a lottery where boys drew names of girls from a box.
St Valentine was executed by the order of the Emperor Claudius on February 14th in the 3rd century A.D for refusing to deny Christ. Before his head was cut off, he restored hearing and sight to the daughter of his jailer.
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed—for being un-Christian in the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14th St. Valentine's Day. Much later, the day became associated with love. Here’s my Valentine take on a Jammy Dodger.
Ingredients:
140gms plain flour
100gms unsalted butter
50gms icing sugar
1 egg yolk
Strawberry jam to fill
Icing sugar (to dust)
Method:
Preheat oven to 170⁰C and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
Beat butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy, then add flour and continue to beat until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg yolk and beat until a dough forms. Place in the fridge for 20 mins.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to appx 1cm thickness. Cut the biscuits using a heart shape cookie cutter. On half of them, cut out an additional small heart from the middle. Place biscuits on baking tray and bake for appx 8 mins (depending on size) until they are slightly golden around the edges.
Leave biscuits to cool on a wire rack and then sandwich them together with strawberry jam. Lightly dust with icing sugar.
Enjoy
How many Bobs have you got?
These quick clunky haircuts are becoming prolific as hairdressers become less and less able to layer hair properly. Emily had the very common 3-step Bob. The baseline, a step four inches off the bottom, and a sort of torn irregular piece suggestive of a long
Tray bakes are great because they’re usually simple to make, create an abundance of treats for the effort put in and leave less washing up. I prefer to bring sweetness into these recipes from fruits where I can, and this one has a little added coconut sugar.
