I am not really a big Valentine's day fan, but I will participate in any holiday that offers an excuse to make sugar cookies. I love sugar cookies, but I sort of feel like they are for kids and I need a special reason to make them. I would never make them for an ordinary ‘around the house’ cookie, like I might with chocolate chip, or oatmeal cookies. Maybe because they need icing or frosting, they seem too festive for ‘ordinary’ cookies?
I love how simple sugar cookies are, tender-crisp, buttery and vanilla-y, and they are a beautiful canvas for sprinkles. Valentine’s day seems like a perfect reason to make them. They seem to need an occasion, and a themed cookie cutter to go with the occasion. That’s why I like to make them for Valentine’s Day. I tinted the frosting a few different colours; a thin coating of frosting adds a semi-translucent, watercoloury wash of colour that looks so pretty. For these I used light pink and peachy-coral and re-mixed the shades several times so I had a range of pinks from very pale blush, to deeper rose and glowy peach. Feel free to pick only one colour, or make as many colours as you like.
Valentine's sugar cookies
food processor sugar cookie dough
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
In a food processor, combine butter and sugar. Blitz together until very soft and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract and mix until combined. Scrape the bottom of the mixer to ensure everything is evenly mixed. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until a smooth dough forms.
Heat oven to 350°F.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cut into heart shapes, and place 1” apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze cookies for 15 minutes, or until very firm. Bake for 11 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cookies should be just golden around the edges, but have almost no colour on top. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Cookies must be entirely cool before icing.
icing
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs milk (add a teaspoon more milk at a time as needed to make a runny icing)
food colouring & sprinkles if desired
Combine sugar, vanilla and milk and whisk until a smooth, fairly runny icing forms. Divide into 2 or three batches and tint with food colouring. I used a few shades of light pink and corally-orange.
assembly
Dip cooled cookies top-side-down into frosting. Use a slight rocking motion to get each side in the frosting right up to the edge. Allow excess frosting to run off the side of the cookies and place on a wire rack to set the frosting. Add sprinkles or other decorations while frosting is still wet. Ensure frosting is completely dry before storing cookies in an airtight container.
lemon cookie variation
I also really like these with a tart, fresh lemon flavour instead of the vanilla. To make lemon sugar cookies: skip almond extract and vanilla in cookies and icing. Add 2 tbs finely grated lemon zest to cookie dough. Use lemon juice in place of milk in frosting. Otherwise, follow recipe as written.
