Cinnamon hearts

This cinnamon and marzipan cookie is a wonderful way to say thank you from the heart. We can often show our appreciation for people who are important to us with small gestures. It doesn't take many words - and something home-baked, with our time and affection in it, is particularly suitable as a heartfelt gesture. Why not make your favorite people in your circle of friends and family happy with our cinnamon marzipan hearts for birthdays or Mother's Day?

The quantities given in the recipe make ten large hearts. However, you can also divide the dough into more portions if you want to bake a larger number of hearts.

1. First, prepare the cinnamon-marzipan mixture. (You can do this the day before or even a few days in advance, since the finished mixture freezes well.) Knead the marzipan with sugar, salt, and water to form a soft dough (by hand or with a mixer). Then work in the cinnamon and finally fold in the melted butter. Let this mixture chill in the refrigerator for a few hours.

2. For the sweet yeast dough, pour the cold milk into a large bowl and stir in 75 g of sugar. Dissolve the yeast cube in the sweetened milk. Add the wheat flour and the egg, and knead everything for a few minutes until the ingredients have combined well to form a dough.

3. Now cut the (not too cold) butter into cubes, add it to the bowl, and knead until it’s fully incorporated into the dough.

4. Add the salt. Now knead the dough vigorously until it becomes noticeably more elastic and can be stretched without tearing. This takes at least 15 minutes.

5. Cover the dough and let it rest at room temperature for at least 45 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet (or two, if you’d prefer to bake smaller hearts) with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180 °C (top/bottom heat).

7. Divide the dough into pieces depending on the desired size and number of hearts, shape them into balls, and let them rest briefly. This makes the dough balls easier to roll out and prevents them from shrinking as much. Then roll them out into ovals with a rolling pin on the countertop or a baking board. Spread the prepared cinnamon-marzipan mixture onto the ovals using a dough scraper or an angled spatula.

8. Roll up each piece of dough and fold the rolls in half once. Using a pastry cutter or knife, make a lengthwise cut about two-thirds of the way through each roll and fan it out to the left and right like a fan. Press the bottom edges together slightly to form a nice heart shape.

9. Place the dough hearts on the baking sheet and let them proof until just ready to bake. (You can check this with the finger-press test: when they’re ready, the indentation made by your finger will disappear only slowly.)

10. Bake at 180 °C (top and bottom heat) for about 15 minutes.

11. Mix the lemon juice and powdered sugar to make a glaze, then brush it onto the hearts while they’re still warm.