Buttered Grapes: Coconut Jam Heart Cookies

Some days I just want everything in life to be pretty. I want my unit not to look so old and run down. I want to wear my favourite black dress all the time. I want to open the pantry and see all the ingredients I need to bake the perfect cake. I want to wear Chanel. I want a new handbag. I want all my skinny clothes to fit me. I want my fake pearls to be real. I want Champagne in the fridge. I want blueberries for breakfast. I want to look french......I want to be french.

In reality though there are runs in my stockings, the fridge is empty, I buy the cheapest wine with the last of my money, I drink green tea instead of anything sparkling, bald girls do not look french, and I wake up with the flu.

Reality isn't always fair. So this is what I do:

I decorate my room so it is as neat and pretty as can be.
I put on some red lipstick
I wear my most french looking hat
I scrub my apartment until it sparkles
I drink so much tea......and pretend its the expensive kind (not the kind you get on sale for $1 at the supermarket)
I try to make my hair sit flat, instead of sticking right up into the air like I have been sticking forks in the toaster.
I put on my fake pears
I carry on with life
But most of all I bake something beautiful.

Sometimes having beautiful things and luxuries is a bit hard on a pastry chefs budget, but you can always make a wee bit of your own beauty. After all Coco Chanel was just a dancer before she made it in the fashion scene.......so really we all must start somewhere.

Making these cookies certainly brings a bit of beauty to your life. They just feel so lovely and pretty.

Coconut Jam Heart Cookies (Adapted from a Donna Hay Recipe.)

You will need:

125g soft butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1tsp of vanilla essence
1 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of desiccated coconut
Icing sugar (for decoration)
1/2 cup of Jam.......I used boysenberry but you can use any jam you like, just try to use something thats good quality.

What to do:
1) Messure out all your ingredients
2) Sift together the plain flour and baking powder
3)In an electric mixer (or with a hand held beater) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4)Beat in egg and vanilla
5)Fold though the dry ingredients, and work into a dough.

6) Wrap the cookie dough in some cling wrap and place in the fridge to rest for half an hour.
7) On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to about 3 cm thick.
8) Use a round cookie cutter to cut circles.
9) Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut hearts out of half of the cookies.....make sure you have an even number otherwise you will have to eat the mismatched one.