Valentine Cookies - 2 different kinds!!!

Most of you know I love to bake cookies! And of course, it’s Valentine’s Day this weekend, so I wanted to make some Valentine cookies with the kids. We made 2 different kinds tonight, heart shaped Cut-Outs and heart shaped Spritz. How did we do all that?? By prepping in advance, of course! Well, I did the prepping while the kids were at school, so that we could get right to cookie making after homework!

First, the recipes…

Grandma F.’s Cut-Out Cookies – (my Grandma used to make these for my dad and his brothers when they were kids, and they have become a staple in our family!)

Cookies
3 Cups sifted flour
½ tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
½ cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup butter

Frosting
2 tbsp. water to 1 cup powdered sugar (adjust water/sugar to get desired consistency)
Food coloring

1. Combine first three ingredients and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg and mix until well blended.
3. Add dry ingredients ½ cup at a time until all mixed together.
4. Roll out on floured surface, cut out, place on ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350°F for approx. 11 to 13 minutes or until lightly browned. Frost as desired.


Spritz

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. almond flavoring
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Food coloring

1. Heat oven to 400° F.
2. Add butter, sugar, egg yolks, flavoring to a large bowl, and mix well. (If you are planning to tint the dough, I recommend adding the food coloring now. It’s much easier to work it in at this point, then after you have mixed in all the flour)
3. Mix in flour.
4. Place dough in cookie press and press onto ungreased baking sheet in desired shape. Bake 7 – 10 minutes or until set, but not brown.


Ok, here’s how I prepped:
This afternoon, I went ahead and made the dough for the cutout cookies. After it was made, I pressed it into about an 8x4 inch rectangle and wrapped it in saran wrap. It has to be brought back to about room temp before you can roll it out, so the thinner you make it, the faster it will warm up.

I didn’t want to make the Spritz dough in the afternoon, so I measured out the sugar and flour into small bowls and covered them. I separated the egg yolks and whites (saving the whites for breakfast tomorrow, of course!) and placed the yolks into a small covered bowl in the refrigerator. I pulled out the almond flavoring and food coloring and set them by my mixer.

As the kids were started their homework, I took the cut-out cookie dough out of the fridge to warm up. I gathered up the rolling pin, mat, flour shaker, cookie cutters and spatula that I would need and got them to the table. By the time the kids were done, the dough was ready to roll out. My kids have been helping me do this for years, but tonight I let them do most of the rolling and cutting. I helped a little to make sure the dough wasn’t too thick or thin. But while they were prepping those cookies, I started the dough for the Spritz.

We got the Cut-Outs all baked, got the Spritz in the oven, and started frosting the Cut-Outs. The frosting is the key to these cookies. They are not all that sweet when they are plain, but after adding the frosting, they have just the right amount of sweetness!

Faith was done helping by this point, she wanted to read. Frankie frosted a few cookies, but was having a hard time and said his arm hurt. So, I basically finished it up. But it was worth it! I got to spend some good quality time with my kids, got some yummy cookies out of it, and didn’t feel totally wiped out….thanks to the prepping!