Angela's Blog O' Fun

I made a special valentine's treat for my coworkers. Since the cookies were so popular, I decided to post the recipe (courtesy of Family Fun magazine).

Use this recipe for sugar dough or one of your own.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 ½ cups flour




1. Using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, cream the butter, gradually adding the sugar. Beat in the egg until evenly mixed, then blend in the vanilla extract and salt.

2. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the creamed ingredients, about one third at a time, until evenly blended. The dough may seem soft, but it will firm up when refrigerated.

3. Divide the dough in half. Flatten each portion into a disk and seal in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

To make the heart cookies:
1 - Heat the oven to 375°. Cover a sturdy baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat the foil with cooking spray. Between 2 sheets of waxed paper lightly dusted with flour, roll the sugar dough to ¼-inch thickness. Remove the top sheet.

2 - Cut out the cookies with a large cookie cutter. Use a spatula to transfer the shapes to the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between cookies. Remove the centers of the cookies with a smaller cookie cutter. (Save the centers for later.)

3 - Place a hard candy (I used Jolly Ranchers®) in the center of each heart and bake until the cookies start to brown lightly around the edges and the candy is melted, about 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. To prevent sticking, line your serving plate or tin with waxed paper and place additional waxed paper between layers. Makes about 30 cookies.

Angela's notes:
This dough recipe is sticky! If you use this one, I would recommend adding a little more flour. Also, take your dough out about 30 minutes before you start or it will be too cold. The cookies will continue to brown even after you take them out of the oven, so pull them out on the early side. When they come out of the oven, the candy will be bubbly, but it smooths out as it cools. Let the cookies sit on the pan for closer to 10 minutes - then they peel right off the foil.

My friend Tammy and I are thinking about experimenting with other shapes and candies. We thought we could use any shape cookie cutter and just use a small circle to cut out the middle. We also thought about trying butterscotch candies, cinnamon candies, toffee candies or red and white swirled peppermints. Tammy's daughter, Abby, came up with an idea to use a Christmas shape and use the cookies as ornaments!

If you try any tweaks, let me know how they turn out!!!