Heart-Shaped Cakes (Little House)

Submitted by Sascha

"These cakes are a cross between shortbread and sugar cookies. They are brown on the outside and pure white on the inside. This recipe comes from "The Little House Cookbook" by Barbara M Walker, and the cakes were part of Laura and Mary's Christmas stockings in "Little House on the Prairie.""

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups white flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1⁄4 cup chilled lard, plus extra for pan
• 1⁄3 cup cultured buttermilk

directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and nutmeg.
3. With cold fingers (dipped in cold water and dried), rub the cold lard into the dry ingredients.
4. Make a well in the center, add buttermilk, and work with one hand into a dough that can be rolled out.
5. Dust rolling surface with flour. Shape the dough into a ball and roll it out into an 8 inch circle.
6. With a table knife dipped in flour, cut the circle in half, then the halves in thirds, to produce six equal wedges. Shape each wedge into a heart.
7. Grease baking sheet and place hearts on it so they do not touch. Bake for 15 minutes, until cakes are puffy and nicely browned.
8. Remove from oven and sprinkle tops immediately with sugar (the crystals will melt slightly and stick).
9. When cool, wrap with blue tissue paper, the traditional wrapping of white sugar crystals, for gift giving.

Reviews

[kianakei]

I love the description of these little cakes in Little House on the Prarie and really wanted to make them! I don't think they are very authentic however. These are more of a cake-y scone-like sugar cookie. They are good but quite fattening - each serving is about 239 calories and 9 grams of fat. I used a tablespoon more of buttermilk because the dough was not binding well and was quite flaky. The inside of the cake is not white, btw! ;) But it was fun making them.