Valentine Cookies

You didn't think I would only post a salad recipe for Valentine's Day, did you?  Now that we've got our veggies in for the day, it's time for dessert...cookies!  I make these every year and then off they go.   Wouldn't you love to receive a box of these in the mail on Valentine's Day?

I enjoy giving more than receiving and I enjoy creating more than consuming, although Bruce does not let me give away 100% before he can consume some, too.  There's always enough to go around for everyone. Creating edible goodies for any occasion is my favorite way of getting in the spirit of things.  These Valentine cookies are the same recipe I use for the Halloween cookies, Spritz cookies and the Super Bowl cookies.   That's because this recipe is the best sugar cookie recipe around so why change a good thing?  The butter cream frosting goes especially well with the cookies, although the cookies taste really good plain, too. The frosting recipe follows the cookie recipe.  I use cookie cutters that have little stamped messages in them that I got probably 25 years ago at a Hallmark store, believe it or not.  (Hallmark use to have the best little gifts...)  I like these type of cookie cutters because you don't have to be an artist and try to write messages with frosting.  I found some similar cookie cutters on Amazon  here.  You can just use heart shaped cookie cutters, too, and frost them with the frosting recipe and decorate with sprinkles.  Anyway you choose to do these, they will be the best tasting sugar cookies you make and your sweeties will love you for it! 

Makes about 6 dozen

For Cookies

5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 sticks unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
6 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together is a large bowl.

3. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

4. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Beat in vanilla.

6. Add the flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, on low speed.

7. Turn dough out onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball, then flatten the balls into disks.

8. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature before continuing.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

9. Position the oven rack in the upper third of an oven. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.

10. Dip the cookie cutter in flour.  My cookie cutters have little Valentine messages on them and show up really well with a little colored sugar sprinkled on them. Using a large metal spatula, transfer the cookies to the prepared pans. Gather up and re-roll the scraps and cut out more cookies. Repeat with the remaining dough disks.

11. Bake the cookies until they are golden on the edges, 9-11 minutes, depending on how thick you roll them out.  Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the cookies cool completely on the pans.

Butter cream Frosting

8 Tbsp. unsalted butter or 1 cube
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. milk, plus more, if needed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
food coloring

1. In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until light and creamy, 2 - 3 minutes.

2. Reduce the speed to low, and add the confectioners' sugar, the milk, the vanilla and salt, and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes.

3. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

4. If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Tint with food coloring as desired.

After I've baked all the cookies, I like to go through all my cookies and remove the ones that are not completely prefect and use those to frost.

Sometimes I get a little carried away when sprinkling the colored sugar on them and you can't read the message very well...those go to the frosting pile.

Or the dough got a dent or knick in it...frosting pile.

Using the recipe above, frost your cookies to cover up any flaws.

Of course, you can frost all of them if you have just plain heart shaped cookie cutters because they look super cute decorated with frosting. You can find all kinds of festive Valentine cookie decorations at places like Michael's Arts and Craft store, your local grocery store or Amazon. 

Happy Valentine's Day