Conversation Cookie Hearts Food

CONVERSATION HEART COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture gradually, beating until just incorporated. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk, and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in top third and lower third. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4-inch thickness, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out cookies with a 2-inch heart cutter, and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roll out scraps once, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Freeze cookies until very firm, about 15 minutes.
• Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through and switching from top to bottom, until edges turn golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.
• Divide royal icing into 1/2-cup portions in small bowls. Tint each with a different gel-paste food coloring, starting with just a drop, mixing well, and adding more, drop by drop, to reach desired shade. Transfer 1 bowl of icing to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch round plain tip. Pipe the outline around edge of each cookie, then fill in with frosting. Poke air bubbles with a toothpick. Transfer decorated cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and let stand uncovered overnight until dry.
• Arrange stamp letters to create desired phrases. (We stamped LUV U, UR A QT, BFF, LYLAS, B MINE, and 2GTBT.) Fold a paper towel into quarters. Squeeze a small amount of red gel-paste food coloring onto a paper towel, and press stamp in coloring. (You may need to blot stamp a few times on a clean paper towel if coloring is too thick.) Lightly press stamp on top of icing in center of each cookie. Let stand until dry, about 30 minutes. Stamped cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.

CONVERSATION COOKIE HEARTS

Steps:

• On a clean surface, roll out fondant. Using small letter-shaped cookie cutters, cut out desired letters; set aside until dried, about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix together half of the royal icing with the red or pink food coloring until desired shade is reached. Transfer to a small squirt bottle with a wide tip. Leaving 1/4-inch border, outline the heart shaped cookie with colored icing. Draw several zigzags across entire surface of the outlined area. If necessary, use a toothpick to spread evenly. Add letters and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Let dry.
• Mix together remaining royal icing with white food coloring. Transfer to a small squirt bottle. Outline colored area of heart with white icing. Add candy-coated chocolates, mini marshmallows, gumdrops, or Red Hots. Let dry.

VALENTINE CONVERSATION HEART COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with Reynolds® Parchment Paper.
• Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Divide dough in half. If necessary, cover and chill dough about 30 minutes or until easy to handle.
• Roll half the dough at a time between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch heart-shape cookie cutter, cut out cookie shapes, re rolling dough as needed until all the dough is cut out. Place shapes 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very light brown. Transfer the parchment paper with baked cookies to wire racks and let cool. Once cooled, slide the parchment paper onto a work surface.
• Tint frosting as desired with food coloring. Frost cookies with one color and use another color to pipe a message over the frosted cookies.