Sweethearts

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or hazelnuts
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into chunks
1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for rolling out cookies

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light. Add egg and mix well.

Sift together the flour and cornstarch. Add to creamed mixture and blend well. Mix in nuts.

Gather dough into a ball and wrap in wax paper. Chill for at least 4 hours.

Sprinkle a board with 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar. Roll the dough out to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with a small heart-shaped cookie cutter about 1 1/2 inch long. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Chill cookies on the sheets briefly while preheating the oven.

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Bake cookies for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool cookies on a rack while melting chocolate in a heavy-bottomed small pan or over simmering water in a double boiler.

Dip half of each heart into the melted chocolate and return to rack to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.