A fantastic display from Hearts' Dutch striker Mark De Vries ensured that the Edinburgh side notched a victory in their first game of the season for four years.
And the Dutchman really was the difference between the sides. He terrorised Aberdeen in the air with his 6ft 5in frame, but then showed a totally different side to his game with a stunning solo goal.
He picked up a ball wide on the left and left Russell Anderson and Kevin McNaughton trailing before firing a clinical low finish beyond the desperate dive of David Preece.
That was after 16 minutes and before that De Vries had forced Preece into an excellent one-handed save and rattled the crossbar.
It was all Hearts in the first half with Phil Stamp firing just wide from 25 yards and De Vries coming close with two more headers.
The pair struggled to cope with 30 degree temperatures and understandably slowed down after the break, but Andy Webster could have added to Hearts tally when he miskicked from close range.
Aberdeen struggled manfully for an equaliser and keeper Tepi Moilanen saved low shots from Paul Sheerin and Markus Heikkinen before producing the save of the match in the last minute.
Sheerin curled a clever lob towards the top corner and the Hearts keeper was at full stretch to tip the ball over the bar.
And as a deflated Aberdeen retreated back into defence Andy Kirk got on the end of a perfect Robert Sloan cut-back to notch Hearts' second goal in injury time.