Homemade Valentine's Day Cookies

Valentine's Day brings to mind all the sweethearts in our lives. And what do we give our beloveds as Valentine's Day gifts? Quite often the answer is sweets for the sweet. Homemade Valentine's Day cookies are an inexpensive yet personal gift idea that your sweetheart is sure to appreciate. Following are some favorite, easy Valentine's Day cookie recipes.

Valentine's Day Heart Sandwich Cookies

These sandwich cookies are fun to make, beautiful to look at, and have a light, buttery flavor. Let the kids get involved; they'll love helping with the different sized cookie cutters.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter and confectioners' sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla; mix well. In a medium bowl stir together dry ingredients; blend into the wet mixture.

Divide dough into three parts and roll each into a ball. Roll out one of the dough balls about ¼" thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out an even number of three-inch hearts using cookie cutters. Using a 1 ½" heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out the centers of half of these hearts. Place each piece separately on an ungreased cookie sheet, one to two inches apart.

Bake for seven to eight minutes. Cool completely on wire rack. Continue process with the remaining balls of dough.

Frost bottom cookie with Valentine Frosting (see below) and place an open centered cookie on top to form the sandwich. You can also bake the 1 ½" cut outs for a cute addition to your sandwich cookies.

Valentine Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
2 drops red food coloring

Directions:
Sift confectioners' sugar. Blend sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Add water and food coloring and mix well.

Giant Valentine Message Cookie

You've probably seen the made-to-order cookies at the mall. No need to spend a lot of "dough" (pun intended) on one of those when you can easily create a delicious and delightful version at home!

Ingredients:
One tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup hard cinnamon candies, finely crushed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a pizza pan with foil. Roll the dough into a ball. Flatten and shape into a heart, using a pattern cut from parchment paper if desired, and place onto foil-lined pan. Using alphabet-shaped cookie cutters or a small knife, cut a message into your cookie, removing the dough from the inside of each letter. Fill the cutouts with the crushed cinnamon candies. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until candies are melted and cookie is golden brown. Allow to cool on pan before removing. Decorate with Valentine Frosting, if desired.

Secret Kiss Valentine's Day Cookies

Want to give your sweetheart a special kiss on Valentine's Day? Make these sweet cookies and sweep them off their feet.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1 package chocolate kisses
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour and nuts, blending well. Refrigerate dough for two hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop a tablespoon of dough, and encase one chocolate kiss completely, and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining kisses. Bake for eight to 10 minutes until set but not brown. Roll in confectioners' sugar. Option: use "Hugs" or filled Hershey's Kisses in place of plain chocolate kisses.