Valentines Day Gooey Broken Heart Cookies Food

VALENTINE'S DAY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• For the cookies: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and mix until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and mix until well combined, scraping down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, about 2 minutes.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll the dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper until it's about 1/8-inch thick. Using heart-shaped cookie cutters, cut the dough and place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart (a small off-set spatula is really helpful when transferring the cookies). After both pieces of dough have been rolled out and cut, combine the dough scraps and re-roll and cut to utilize as much of the dough as possible.
• Bake until the cookies are just barely golden around the edges, rotating halfway through, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
• For the icing: Meanwhile, whisk the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. The consistency should be similar to that of slightly thinned yogurt and should coat the back of a spoon. Adjust with additional confectioners' sugar or milk, if needed.
• Place 2 tablespoons of icing into each of 2 small bowls. Add 4 drops of red gel food coloring to one bowl and 2 drops of pink gel food coloring to the other and stir until fully incorporated. Using a small spoon, drizzle a small amount of each color over the white icing and then repeatedly drag a toothpick through the icing until you create a marbled effect.
• Working with one cooled cookie at a time, carefully dip it face-side down into the icing and allow any excess to drip off before placing the cooking back on the cooling rack. Add additional red and pink icing to the bigger bowl of icing as needed to maintain the marbling effect. Decorate with sprinkles (if using) before allowing to the icing to fully set, about 4 to 5 hours.

VALENTINE'S DAY GOOEY BROKEN HEART COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Beat the egg and vanilla together in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
• Reduce the speed to low. Slowly pour in the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, increasing the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as needed. Once all the flour is just incorporated, tint the dough to desired color by adding a few drops of food coloring and mixing to combine. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a clean work surface and bring it together into a ball. Divide into 2 even pieces. Shape each piece into a flat square and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.
• While the dough is chilling, quarter each of the caramel candies and place in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• When ready to roll, cut and bake the cookies, position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Dust another sheet of parchment with flour and put 1 piece of the dough on top. Dust with more flour and top with another sheet of parchment. Roll the dough out between the parchment sheets to about 1/4-inch thick (and about 11 by 9 inches) and place in the freezer until slightly chilled, about 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.
• Cut out cookies with a 3-inch heart-shape cutter and arrange 5 cookies on each of the prepared baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart, for 10 cookies total. Place a heaping tablespoon of the cut caramel candies in the middle of each heart in one layer, leaving the edges of the cookie clean. Gather the scraps of dough, then roll out and cut in the same manner until you have 10 more hearts (do not put candy on top of these). Place one of these heart cookies on top of each of the 10 cookies on the baking sheets and press gently around the edges to seal . Freeze until very firm, about 20 minutes.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheets front to back and bottom to top about halfway through, until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets on a wire rack, about 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to the rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.