Valentine’s Day Cookies

Madeline and I love spending time in the kitchen. We bake and decorate sugar cookies for several different holidays, including Valentine’s Day. I always let her go wild and unleash her creativity on a few cookies. This usually means emptying almost an entire container of sprinkles onto one cookie. (Notice the tiny heart swimming in varicolored sprinkles in the photo; I’m ashamed to admit that I actually removed some of the sprinkles from this cookie for the photo-op.)

This year we made lots of extra Valentine’s Day cookies to share with her grandparents, uncles and even a neighbor. For those of you who like to bake with your kiddos, I’ve included the recipe for both the sugar cookies and a simple frosting below. This is a new recipe we tried compliments of a friend of mine, and the cookies were even more delicious than usual. Enjoy!

NOTE: We made these before Lent began, so Mommy could sink her teeth into a few of the cookies before facing a dearth of sweets during her Lenten journey. We froze the remaining cookies. They freeze well – just wrap them in saran wrap. The dough also freezes well, so you can double the recipe and save half of it for another holiday. We actually used some dough that was frozen from Christmastime.

Sugar Cookies for Every Season

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla (you can also use almond extract)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla. Sift flour, salt, baking powder; add to wet mixture. Chill at least one hour. The dough is easier to cut into shapes when cold. Bake at 375º` for about 8 minutes. Keep an eye on them so as not to burn. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

White Chocolate Frosting

4 two-ounce squares of white chocolate
1/4 cup of whipping cream
Food coloring (I used red to make red and pink frosting and then kept some of it white for our Valentine’s Day cookies.)

Microwave chocolate and whipping cream in glass bow at 50% for about 3 minutes, stirring once. Add food coloring to achieve desired color. Warm in microwave if frosting hardens.