Sweets for the Sweet

Sweet treats...


because it's Valentine's Day on Wednesday, of course.

At Christmas Belle brought me some cookie cutters, which reminded me that I used to make elaborate sugar cookies for all of the holidays. Haven't done it in ages.

So it was time.

I'll take them to work, share with the neighbors, pass them out to friends.

Sugar cookies are a bit of a process since the dough has to chill so I planned on making the dough Friday night and baking the cookies Saturday morning.  Snow was forecast for Saturday afternoon so I would ice them then. What a plan.

After the dough was made, happily cooling in the fridge, I mentioned to a friend that I was making cookies and he said "Can you bake at this elevation?"
Shit.
Yes, I can but I know good and well I need to make adjustments. And I definitely did NOT make adjustments for this recipe.

(For more reading on my adventures with high altitude baking, click here and here and here.)

So Saturday morning the dough was thawed, water was added, then it went back to the fridge to chill again.

Kinda set my schedule back.

But eventually the dough was ready and I got out the world's most adorable cookie cutters.

These hands are my kids from when they were 1, 3 and 7. (Heres a link to a company that will make some for you. Fabulous baby present.)

I also have a collection of hearts although really wouldn't it have been perfect if I had THIS one?

An anatomical heart cookie cutter. 

Wish I had one yesterday.

I mean, I do work for a cardiologist.

The dough was rolled out. That required sprinkling flour everywhere. I'm a messy cook.

Rolling out the dough under the watchful eye of the plastic parakeet. 

Soon enough I had hearts and hands baked and waiting for icing.

Cookies make it easy to hand over your heart.

I had great plans. Rings for the hands, bracelets, maybe a watch. Then reality set in when I discovered the only food coloring I had was neon pink, orange, purple and green. Guess the good food coloring was lost in the move.
O well. Pink hearts and flesh colored hands, sprinkles and sugar confetti would have to do.

And the final product? Pretty cute, huh?

Literally sugar, flour and icing everywhere. 

Had to mop the floor today. 

Here's the sugar cookie recipe. I doubled it for this batch. They aren't too sweet so they really need the icing.  If you are baking at a high altitude like I am, add 2-3 tablespoons of water. I didn't add extra flour since I used flour on the rolling pin and counter (plus floor, me, cabinets, etc) when the cookies were rolled out.

Ingredients:

⅓ cup butter

⅓ cup butter Crisco shortening

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1 TBSP milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Cream the butter, sugar and shortening. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and mix well.

Sift together the dry ingredients and add slowly.

Chill for at least two hours or overnight. 

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Roll and cut the dough.  Bake for about 10 minutes. 

For high altitude I added a couple of tablespoons water, lowered the oven to 340º and baked them a little longer. 

Sugar Cookie Icing:

3 cups confectioner's sugar

¼ cup water

1/2tsp vanilla

I usually add a little lemon juice to the water to give it a little edge.

Mix all until smooth. It should be thick and white. Color as desired. 

To thin, add water, drop by drop. It doesn't take much. 

To decorate, I use paint brushes. Just paint on the icing. It works. Just make sure you get all the paint out of them first. 

Happy Valentine's Day all!  Wish I could send cookies everywhere.