Homemade Valentine's Day Cookies

Valentine's Day is a wonderful holiday to celebrate with all the people you love. Making homemade valentine cookies shows them how special they are to you. It doesn't take that much time; in fact, it is rather easy and quick to make these cut-out Valentine cookies.

Valentine's Day cut-out cookies

½ pound (2 Sticks) butter, softened

2 cups Sugar

2 Eggs

½ cup of Milk

2 teaspoon of Vanilla

4 teaspoons of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon of Salt

4 ½ cups of Flour

Preheat the oven to 375F. Cover the cookie sheets with parchment paper for easy clean up later. Cream the melted butter with the sugar, add the eggs and vanilla until mixed well. Stir in the milk alternating with all of the dry ingredients such as baking powder, salt and flour until well blended.

Wrap in plastic and chill for about an hour. I have not waited for the full hour and other times I have waited over night before rolling out; it all depends on how much time I have.

Roll out on a floured surface with a rolling pin, and use your heart shaped cookie cutter. Place them on the cookie sheet about a ½ inch apart. Bake for about 8-10 minutes.

Decorating these cookies is the most fun part of this project. If you have children this is a wonderful way to get them involved. This would be a great gift that any grandparent would cherish and enjoy to eat. There are a number of ways to decorate the cookies you just made and give a personal touch to each one you give away. Purchasing frosting from the grocery store in a tub or tube, this is a quick way to decorate the cookies. Using purchased sugar right before putting the cookies into the oven would be another idea that would be quick and simple. Any of the above ideas would also be less messy with little children helping. Making your own frosting would be another way, and really not as time consuming as one may think. Here is a good recipe for decorating either by spreading on the cookie or by piping on in a special message or design.

Icing

1 cup of Butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract, if no clear regular vanilla works okay

4 cups of Confectioners' Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Milk

Cream the butter, add the vanilla. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time, beating it well on medium speed. When all sugar has been mixed in, add milk and beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate leftover icing in a tightly sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

To make the frosting colored it is best to use the paste food coloring as to not add any more liquid to the frosting. I have used the regular vanilla a number of times when I am making a dark colored frosting, and it works very well.