...oh how I love Valentine's Day. No...I daresay, it's not because I am married to the perfect man who brings me dozens of roses, chocolate covered strawberries, or gifts in the little blue box. Don't get me wrong, I married the perfect man for me---we just haven't seemed to make pricey material gifts a part of Valentine's Day yet--maybe one day :) Instead, we seem to focus on our love for our kids and the simple things like giving each of them and their teachers a yummy personalized heart-shaped sugar cookie. These babies are all decked out in basket weave tresses of homemade cream cheese frosting and given a splash of candy hearts to add some color pop.
When we lived in Las Vegas, we used to make about 150 of these and hand-deliver them to the doorsteps of all of our closest friends and family. It was so worth the late-night hours of decorating them and pouring over our lists to make sure we didn't forget any names of new babies born to our friends the previous year. SIGHHHHHHHH!!! This is when moving to new places makes me wax sentimental about where we've lived before. I still remember the first February 14th after we moved away when I received an e-mail from a good friend who said, "Eva, today just wasn't the same without my personalized "Echo" cookie from the Taylor family." Yep, her name is Echo--a wee bit befitting of this moment as memories of past cookie runs bounce around in my heart. This is what Valentine's day is all about for me--it's about the deep and abiding love for my friends, my family, and my sweetheart. I am building new friendships now and enjoying all of the surprises life brings. My cookie list is beginning to grow again--nothing could make my heart swell more this Valentine's Day. Well...except maybe a gift from dear sweet Tiffany's after all the cookies are delivered. SMOOCHES all. Happy Valentine's Day!
Here's how to make & decorate these little sweeties. Sorry for such a long post but pictures help a ton in the teaching :)
You will need:
a sugar cookie recipe (I'll e-mail you mine if you'd like)
sifter and flour
rolling pin
heart shaped cookie cutters
cream cheese frosting
candy hearts & colored sugar sprinkles
m&m's and other goodies in heart-shaped bowls to keep you in a festive mood
decorating bags for frosting
frosting tips #47, #18, and #2
Using the basket weave tip (#47) put 5 vertical rows of frosting across the heart centering the middle row. When finished, it should look like this picture below:
Carefully add horizontal rows of frosting with the basket weaving tip, beginning at the bottom center of the heart and OVER the top of the center vertical row already on the cookie. This will be your guide for creating the faux look of the frosting being woven. Follow up the cookie as pictured below until the cookie is covered completely.
Using colored frosting and star tip #18, add a decorative border around the entire cookie using a slightly to the left up and over motion:
Finally, add a name using writing tip #2 and add some candy hearts for decoration.
Feel free to post any questions. I love to share recipes and helpful tips of any kind. So...what are your valentine's day traditions??? I'd love to hear them.Happy baking and enjoy eating some personalized
cookies -n- cream cheese. Love to all!
