By Katie Goodman
Kids love to help decorate cookies! Special Valentine’s Day cookies are a great way to celebrate at home and with friends. For a Valentine’s Day cookie decorating party, the cookies and frosting can easily be made in advance. Then, set out the plates of cookies, bottles of frosting, and sprinkles for the kids to decorate. Hope you all have a Happy Valentine’s Day this year!
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Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
4 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
Directions
Cream the butter in a stand mixer on high speed.
Beat in the sugar until dissolved, about 3-5 minutes. Mix in the corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and egg.
Sift together the 4 cups of flour and ¼ teaspoon salt; mix into the butter mixture.
Scrape the sides of the bowl down as needed. Chill the dough for one hour.
Remove 1/3 of dough at a time from the refrigerator and roll to 1/8″ thickness. Cut into desired shapes.
Place 1″ apart on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake at 350° F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Cool completely before decorating.
Powdered Sugar Glaze
This frosting will harden upon standing, giving cookies a glazed surface.
Ingredients
2½ cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp milk or half-and-half
2 Tbsp butter, softened
½ tsp almond extract
Food coloring optional
Directions
In small mixer bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and extract. Beat at medium speed until smooth, adding additional milk, if necessary, to reach the desired spreading consistency. Color with food coloring, if desired.
Pour the frosting into small squeeze bottles for easy decorating. Frost the cookies. Let stand until hardened.
Decorating Tips:
First, outline the cookie shape with your chosen color of glaze. Next, fill the outline with additional frosting until the outline is filled completely solid. While still wet, add sprinkles, if desired.
For a swirled effect, choose 2 different glaze colors. First, outline the shape with the first color. Then outline the shape again, this time inside the first outline, with the second color. Repeat this process until the entire cookie is filled with alternating colors. Using a toothpick, swirl the 2 colors together.
Download Recipe PDF
(Right click to save PDF to your desktop. See PDF download directions.)
About the Author:
Katie Goodman resides in New Mexico with her husband and children. Learning in the kitchen, eating, trying new recipes, and sharing them with friends and loved ones are some of Katie’s favorite things to do. She wholeheartedly believes that part of the goodness in life is enjoying good food with good friends and family, and goodLife {eats} is a place for her to share what she finds good in the kitchen.
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