Sweet Valentine Sugar Cookies
Sweet Valentine Sugar Cookies
These Sweet Valentine Sugar Cookies are so much fun to make. With just a few colors and sprinkles the possibilities are endless! I love watching how people respond when you offer them a cookie from a beautiful plate and they can't decide which one to pick, then they marvel about how they are just too pretty to eat.
It is the day before Valentines but I perhaps I can inspire you to a last minute masterpiece. These are cookies that I made a couple of years ago and I made them using the same techniques and recipes that I used for my Sparkling Snowflake Cookies.
I didn't take a lot of pictures back then but If you'd like more information about baking sugar cookies, piping an edge and flooding icing on sugar cookies, just go over to my Autumn Maple Leaf Sugar Cookies for some tutorials.
I used a slightly different technique to make the Autumn Maple Leaf Sugar Cookies that would make beautiful marbled hearts.
It's fun to make these as individual custom valentines for the office or school friends. Do you lead a scout troop or teach a class to young people? This is a really fun group project!
I'd love to do cookie decorating as an alternative to paint night with friends!
What do you say ladies? Pre-bake the cookies and decorate your way through the evening with great friends and some sparkling wine!
I hope this inspires you to Valentine Greatness this week!
Cheers!
~Melisa
Sweet Valentine Sugar Cookies
Instructions
For the cookies
2/3 cup room temperature real butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Mix the butter and sugar together then add the egg and mix well.
Add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
Alternately add the flour mixture and the milk and extract to the butter/sugar mixture, mixing well with each addition.
Refrigerate dough for at least one hour. I refrigerate overnight.
Roll the dough between 2 sheets of parchment or on a floured surface.
Cut with cookie cutters and place cookies on a cool parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-9 minutes in a 375* oven turning the pan around half-way through
For the Icing
4 Cups Powdered Sugar
6 Tablespoons whole milk 6 Tablespoons light Corn Syrup 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
I use a whisk to combine sugar and milk until it's smooth, then stir in corn syrup, extract and Wilton food coloring until I have the color I'm looking for.
Starting with completely cooled cookies, pipe an edge with a small round tip and a disposable piping bag with medium firm frosting. When when the edge is dried, flood the cookie with a fairly thin (runny) texture of frosting using a small spoon or the tines of a fork.
Allow to dry and then decorate the top as desired.
