Sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day is such a treat. I’m usually not a big fan of actually making them (but always a fan of eating them) because of the work involved. This year, however, I was motivated and found the process fun…walk down memory lane. The cookie recipe came from my sister, Carolyn. She made these when her kids were younger and I loved them.
My kids and I started a tradition last year of gathering around Valentine’s Day for a group dinner and, this year, the cookies will be our dessert. I loved cutting out the smaller hearts for the little ones. We need to enjoy it because who knows when I’ll be motivated once again!
SUGAR COOKIES
3 cup sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 scant teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup shortening (butter, Crisco, etc.)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg in a bowl. Cut in shortening.
- In a separate bowl beat eggs. Add sugar, milk and vanilla. Beat well.
- Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and mix well.
- Chill dough for at least one hour (I chilled overnight).
- Roll out 1/2 dough on floured surface and return remaining dough to refrigerator until ready to roll out. (I found the dough a bit sticky so used quite a bit of flour while rolling out). Cut into desired shapes.
- Optional: At this point you can sprinkle with decorative colored sugar if you don’t want to ice the cookies. I did this for half of the recipe.
- Bake cookies on ungreased baking sheet at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes or until a light brown on the edges.
CREAMY ICING:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4-6 tablespoons cream (or half and half)
drop or two of red food coloring (to reach the desired color of pink or red)
- Blend ingredients together to make an icing with a thin consistency. This will be enough icing for the entire cookie recipe. I made half of the icing recipe and iced half of the batch.
Fork Lore 