Valentine's Day is coming up quick so I wanted to share this recipe for the perfect heart-shaped sugar cookie. This recipe is divine... think sugar cookie meets shortbread. It's the perfect marriage of butter and sugar together. It's also the perfect activity to do with kids - so I rounded up two of my nephews for some cookie decorating fun.
Ever see those Pinterest photos of perfectly iced heart-shaped sugar cookies? I'll let you in on a little secret... those bakers definitely DON'T have a two and four-year-old at the table! When it comes to decorating cookies, my highest recommendation is to withdraw any and all expectations of what you think a cookie decorated by a two year old will look like. Their cookie icing etiquette is far more imaginative than that of the Valentine's cookie photos on Pinterest. Sometimes, I wish my mind and my world could be as simple as theirs.. zero regard for what society will think of their cookie-decorating skills. In the end, I became a fan of their decorating style and even more, their passion for eating way too much icing!
the best
VALENTINE SUGAR COOKIES
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp water
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg and water. Beat until light and fluffy. Blend flour, baking powder and salt until incorporated. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill for one hour. Roll out until dough is half an inch thick. Cut out into shapes and place on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-7 minutes, watching carefully to remove them just before their edges turn brown.
Icing
Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Spoon onto cooled cookies, spread and decorate!
Instead of using food coloring, I added a few drops of blackberry juice (from homemade blackberry freezer jam I made last summer) to give the icing a subtle shade of pink. This was not only a great way to naturally add color, it made for quite a tasty frosting! You won't be able to resist the urge to help yourself to a second!
Cheers to starting new Valentine's traditions with the cutest nephews.
-The Happy Egg