Sweet Hearts

For Valentine’s Day this year I decided it would be fun to bake some cute heart-shaped shortbread cookies with a pink glaze over the top. These were incredibly easy to make! Probably the most difficult part was cutting them into evenly shaped hearts without the use of a cookie cutter, but improvising is always much more fun for me.

These cookies are made from an classic shortbread recipe that can be altered for any number of other cookie variations. For instance, I think it would also be great with some toasted pecans added to the dough and formed into a drop cookie.

Here is the recipe if you’re interested in making some of these for yourself or your sweetie :)

Shortbread Cookies:

2 Cups Flour

½ Cup Powdered Sugar

½ Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature

1 Teaspoon Water

Add flour, salt, and powdered sugar to your food processor and give it a quick pulse to combine. Add the vanilla extract, water, and butter (cut up into chunks) into the food processor and pulse until a dough forms. Take the dough out and knead it together into a log. Wrap the dough in some plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. NOTE: Especially if you’re making cut-outs you want to work with a cold dough so it doesn’t melt or loose it’s shape easily.

Heat oven to 375 F. After you’re done shaping your cookies, bake them for 11-14 minutes on a non-stick cookie sheet. Cool the cookies on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before decorating.

For the Powered Sugar Glaze:

½ Cup Powdered Sugar

2 Teaspoons Milk (Add more or less depending on how thick you want your glaze)

¼ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Food Coloring (Add however many drops until you get the desired color)

Mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together until there are no lumps in the glaze. Add food coloring drop by drop until you get the desired color.

Now it’s time to get creative and decorate your cookies! Have a Happy Valentine's Day and enjoy!