Valentine's Cookie Pops

Instructions

Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 175C and line two baking trays with baking paper. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy, add the maple syrup, vanilla and salt and combine.

Sift in the flour, cacao powder and add the milk, combine the mixture with your hands until a dough forms. Divide the dough into two halves, place in the fridge for half an hour then roll out one of the dough balls between two sheets of baking paper. Use a heart cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes, place on to the prepared baking trays and add a lollipop stick into each biscuit (see image). Repeat with the second ball of dough.

Strawberry Icing

Bake in the oven for 11 minutes or until the biscuits begin to darken, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. Meanwhile, place the strawberries, lemon zest and 25g of icing sugar into a food processor, blend until smooth and press the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds.

Add the butter, vanilla and remaining sugar to the puree, whisk until smooth and place in the fridge to firm for 15 minutes. Ice the biscuits with the pink icing and leave to set.

Chocolate Icing

Mix the sugar, milk, melted chocolate and cacao powder together until smooth and ice a pattern on top of the pink icing and decorate with pink sprinkles.