Valentines Cookies Recipes

VALENTINE'S DAY HEART SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. If the dough seems too soft, you can add 1 Tablespoon more flour so it's a better consistency for rolling.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each portion out onto a piece of parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat (I prefer the nonstick silicone mat) to about 1/4″ thickness. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly ¼-inch thick.
• Stack the pieces, with parchment paper between the two, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 2 days. If chilling for more than a couple hours, cover the top dough piece with a single piece of parchment paper.
• Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Remove one of the dough pieces from the refrigerator and using a heart cookie cutter, cut into heart shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with 2nd dough piece.
• Bake for 10-11 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Make sure you rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
• In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat all of the icing ingredients together on high speed for 5 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 10-12 seconds. If it's too thick, add a little more water. (On particularly dry days, I use up to 12-14 Tablespoons water total.) If it's too thin, add a little more sifted confectioners' sugar. Separate icing into 6 different bowls. Stir in 1 tiny drop of the following colors into each bowl, 1 color per bowl: pink, violet, green, yellow, and orange. The 6th bowl is for the writing. Use 2-3 drops of red.
• Add icing to piping bag fitted with round icing tip #5. Decorate cookies with colored icing. Use round icing tip #1 for writing. Do not cover cookies as icing sets. Icing will set within 2-3 hours.
• Decorated or plain cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

VALENTINE'S COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream the butter. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg, milk and vanilla and combine. Sift together 1 cup of the flour with the baking powder and mix it into the batter. Add some or all of the additional flour depending on how much the dough can handle. Form into a disk, cover in plastic and chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours. Roll out on a lightly floured surface about 1/4-inch thick. Cut out hearts with various sized cookie cutters and place on a greased sheet pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes until very light golden brown. Let cool on the pan.
• Icing: Whisk together the egg whites and powdered sugar to form a slightly loose icing. It should flow a little bit but not too much. Transfer a small amount to a separate bowl and add a tiny amount of red food coloring to make pink icing. Pipe a rim of pink icing around the edge of the cookie and then fill in the center with white icing, or just pipe decorative designs on the surface. Embellish with silver or gold balls. Let dry and package up in cello bags tied with a ribbon.