Valentine Sugar Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and extracts. Stir in flour; mix well. Chill several hours. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness; cut with a 2-1/2- or 3-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheets; sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
• Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and add to the butter mixture, a little at a time. Stir until well combined. Knead using wet fingers if dough gets too stiff, dusting with flouring occasionally, until it bounces back.
• Roll dough out to uniform thinness and cut into desired shapes. Place 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheets until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
• Meanwhile, melt confectioners' coating in the microwave according to manufacturer's instructions. Mix in red candy melts until desired color is reached. Dip cooled cookies in the candy coating and let rest on waxed paper until hardened, about 5 minutes.

Steps:

• Mix flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside until ready to use.
• Add butter, shortening, cream cheese, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream together for 3 minutes.
• Add the eggs, sour cream. Mix completely.
• Add in the baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Mix well.
• Add the flour mixture and blend together. If dough is too moist, add more flour to accomodate.
• Chill dough for about 1 hour.
• Roll out the dough, cut in desired shape.
• Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.
• Decorate as desired with frosting and sprinkles.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• For the cookies: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and mix until well combined, scraping down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, about 2 minutes.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll the dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper until it's about 1/8-inch thick. Using heart-shaped cookie cutters, cut the dough and place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart (a small off-set spatula is really helpful when transferring the cookies). After both pieces of dough have been rolled out and cut, combine the dough scraps and re-roll and cut to utilize as much of the dough as possible.
• Bake until the cookies are just barely golden around the edges, rotating halfway through, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
• For the icing: Meanwhile, whisk the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. The consistency should be similar to that of slightly thinned yogurt and should coat the back of a spoon. Adjust with additional confectioners' sugar or milk, if needed.
• Place 2 tablespoons of icing into each of 2 small bowls. Add 4 drops of red gel food coloring to one bowl and 2 drops of pink gel food coloring to the other and stir until fully incorporated. Using a small spoon, drizzle a small amount of each color over the white icing and then repeatedly drag a toothpick through the icing until you create a marbled effect.
• Working with one cooled cookie at a time, carefully dip it face-side down into the icing and allow any excess to drip off before placing the cooking back on the cooling rack. Add additional red and pink icing to the bigger bowl of icing as needed to maintain the marbling effect. Decorate with sprinkles (if using) before allowing to the icing to fully set, about 4 to 5 hours.