James Beard's Baking Powder Biscuits are a treat any time, but using a heart-shaped cookie cutter elevates them to fun status. Putting a basket of heart shaped biscuits on the table will definitely produce a few smiles. The real trick for flaky biscuits is to make sure to handle the dough as little as possible. You want to work with a very soft, springy dough. It's actually easy and fun.

2 C flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 stick butter

3/4 C milk

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.

2. Add the butter to the flour mixture and blend with your fingers until combined.

3. Stir the milk into the flour/butter mixture until it comes together. This is the tricky part. The dough needs to be very soft. It it feels like a hockey puck at this point, so will your biscuits. Start over if things don't feel right.

4. Dump dough onto a floured surface. Knead for a minute or so.

5. Roll dough to about 1/2" thickness; cut with a circular biscuit cutter, or in this case, a heart shaped cookie cutter.

6. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 15 minutes.

7. Best served hot with butter and jam.

Just an additional note: Beard suggests that for simple drop biscuits, you can add a 1/4 C more milk and drop spoonfuls of dough onto a greased baking sheet. I didn't try this, but it's obviously easier than cutting out shapes. I feel as though the heart shaped ones were worth the trouble!