My mom always used to make Valentine's Day packages for me and my dad, and I always looked forward to her Valentine's day shortbread cookies. I decided to make them this year for the first time as the dessert for our special Valentine's day dinner. They turned out really well, and although I never buy dessert, Hirsh was convinced they were store-bought since they were "so perfect." Of course, with a different cookie cutter, they could be made for any holiday and would be really great for Christmas/ Hanukah cookies.
Valentine's Shortbread Cookies
1 C butter
3/4 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz chocolate chips
1. Beat room temperature butter with sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, sift flour and salt together.
3. Blend flour into butter until well mixed.
4. Form into 2 disks, cover in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
5. Let dough come to room temperature. Add a little water to the surface if it seems too hard.
6. Roll out on floured board with floured rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thick.
7. Cut out in heart shapes and place on cookie sheet.
8. Bake at 300 degrees for 18-20 minutes. The cookies should be lightly browned.
9. Melt chocolate in double boiler (or a glass bowl over boiling water if you don't have one) and leave over hot water.
10. "Frost" each cookie with chocolate and add sprinkles (I got these adorable heart sprinkles from Williams Sonoma.)
11. Refrigerate on wax paper to set chocolate.
If you have leftover chocolate, you can make all sorts of chocolate covered treats. I had graham crackers and pretzels around, so I made some of those! Marshmallows work great too.
Difficulty: Hard
Hirsh's Rating: 9
Debbie's Rating:10
Although these were very time and labor intensive, I will definitely make them again!
Please excuse my naivete... are these the same as "sugar cookies" that you'd find in a bakery or something different altogether? If they're different, how are they different?
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you should ask...shortbread cookies are not the same as sugar cookies. Shortbread cookies don't contain any eggs, and have more butter, which gives them a different taste/ texture than traditional sugar cookies. I would say that shortbread is richer and denser, while sugar cookies are sweeter and softer. But both are delicious. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. I had no idea what shortbread was.
ReplyDeleteI clicked "looks good" because it does but not "I want to make that" because I don't think I can. I'm not tackling anything that has a degree of difficulty higher than "Easy."
Cutout cookies are advanced, both in technique and in instrumentation- you need the mat, rolling pin, cookie cutters, etc...but they are still doable for a novice baker, Hirsh helped me make Chanukah cookies in Pittsburgh and did everything from rolling the dough to decorating the cookies. He did a great job and had fun doing it. So if you ever want to participate in cookie making at my house, let me know!
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