Be Mine.

Finn and I were looking for a project, he was in massive need of something to occupy his time {and my sanity} so we decided to make cookies.  He will happily tell you that except for cracking the egg, he made these himself.  He *may* have been covered from head to toe with flour, but he did a great job dumping all of the ingrediants in and helping me roll them out.

I learned how to make these cookies from Bridget at Bake at 350.  She REALLY makes learning easy, with step by step directions and explainations of everything.  My edges are not even close to being as neat, nor the details as fine, but I'm happy to make cute & SIMPLE cookies like these.  The look so much harder to do than they are.  Give it a try! 

Use this recipe to make the cookies.  I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste in lieu of the vanilla extract.

Use this recipe to make the frosting.  Don't use the one listed on the cookie recipe page.  I only made half this amount for my purposes and put 1/4 t of almond extract in it, but if you want to do several colors make the whole batch.  If you do them like I did, you will make flood {frosting that has been thinned to syrup consistancy} in two different colors and keep a little of the frosting in it's normal state to pipe around the edges.  I put the flood in plastic squeeze bottles.

To decorate:
1.  With the regular frosting, in a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip {or a ziploc with a teeny tiny corner cut off} pipe a circle around the perimeter of the cookie.  Allow to dry for a minute or two.

2.  Fill with flood in the same color.  Use a toothpick to pull the flood right up to the edges.  Let it sit for a few minutes, then add dots in the opposite color.

3.  Use a toothpick and pull from the main color through the dots and it will make a heart shape.

4.  Let these dry overnight before packaging them, even if they look dry!  Trust me, you'll end up with ugly dents in the finish of the frosting.


Then, we just printed out a little Valentine's message on cardstock.  Finnegan set to work decorating them with his Crayolas.  He packaged them up in glassine bags and I did the folding and stapled them.  We're going to deliver them to grandparents and his three great-grandmas tomorrow as a special surprise early Valentine. 

What do you have planned for Valentine's Day treats?