Valentine Strawberry-Raspberry Champagne Sorbet Recipe

    * 1/2 pound each frozen raspberries and strawberries
    * 1/4 cup sugar syrup
    * 3/4 cup champagne

Put the frozen berries in a medium sized bowl and thaw, save any accumulated juices. Put thawed berries in a food processor or blender. Purie berries for 1 minute. This should yield about 2 cups of purie.

Sugar syrup: In a medium saucepan place 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water.

Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a full boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Add the 1/4 cup of sugar syrup and champagne to berry purie and stir until well mixed. Chill until very cold.

Sugar Hearts

    * 3 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 1 cup butter, softened
    * 1 cup granulated sugar
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    * 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
    * 1/4 cup half-and-half
    * 1 large egg
    * 1 large egg yolk
    * 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and half-and-half. Add the egg and egg yolk, beating until just blended.

Mix in the dry ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide the dough in half. Press the dough into disks, wrap each in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll out one of the disks of dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of l/4 inch.

Use a 2 1/2-inch heart cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Gather the dough scraps, re-roll, and continue cutting out cookies until all the dough is used.

Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheets, placing them 2 inches apart. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12-15 minutes, or until just golden. Transfer to racks and let cool completely.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Dip the hearts half-way into the chocolate and let stand for 30 minutes until set.