Conversation Heart Cookies

Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays!  There are so many fun things to make and bake!  I love sugar cookies, especially cut out cookies with Royal Icing!  I love looking through baking blogs and Instagram posts on all the beautiful cookies made.  They are truly a work of art, you can’t even tell some are cookies with all the details!

I am by no means a professional baker and/or cookie decorator, but I sure like trying!  It does take a lot of practice, especially to get the icing consistencies down!  There are countless videos and instructions on blogs and websites on tips to get the right consistency.  I am still practicing, that’s part of the fun right?!

I thought these Conversation Heart Cookies would be adorable to feature in our January box, make a batch to give out to friends and family!  Don’t forget to share pictures of what you made!  You can use the hashtags #mybakersbox and/or #madewithmybakersbox, or email it to us!

~Happy Baking!  Angela

 

You will need:

Favorite Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe (ours is below)

Favorite Royal Icing Recipe or mix

Food coloring of choice

Heart Cookie Cutters (from our January box)

Red Candy Writer (from our January box)

Piping bag or squeeze bottle

Favorite Sugar Cookies

2 cups plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract*

*Optional substitution for ½ teaspoon vanilla – Substitute with ½ teaspoon lemon or almond extract for a light alternative flavoring.

Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl.  Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture just until combined.  Divide dough into two and wrap tight in plastic wrap, chill until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Place parchment paper on your cookie sheets.  Roll one-half the dough on a floured work surface.  Cut out your cookies and place on the parchment paper covered cookie sheets.  You can continue to reroll the scrapes until all the dough is used up.  Continue the same steps with the second half of dough.  Bake until a light golden, 13 to 16 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool before transferring or decorating.

Once cookies have cooled, the fun begins!  Make your favorite royal icing recipe- we used our mix!  Super easy and can be colored and/or flavored.  You can purchase here!

Make royal icing, being careful not to add too much water so it’s not too thin.  Separate icing into bowls and add desired food coloring.  I used pink, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple.  Add food coloring 1 drop at a time to get desired color.  Once color is achieved, put icing into piping bag, or squeeze bottles.  I love the squeeze bottles as I feel like I have more control over the bottles.  Tip- when not using bottles, place in a bowl of warm water to prevent icing from drying out.  Need more squeeze bottles?  We have plenty in our shop!

Pipe around the outside of the cookie creating an outline, then fill in.  Continue icing all cookies and let dry overnight.  Once cookies are completely dry, you are ready to add the phrases!  You can add whatever you’d like, or search “conversation hearts” for ideas!  Place your red candy writer in a bowl of hot, but not boiling water.  Let set, and knead and repeat till writer is completely melted.  Write your phrase on each cookie.  Writer will start to harden, so place in hot water every so often to keep melted, this happened to me on my orange cookie which you can see below!  Let dry a few hours.  Once cookies are completely dry- enjoy!

For a fun gift idea, add cookies to our glassine bags and tie with twine.  Add our gift tags and done!  Super cute!  Need more bags and tags?  Order here!  Make sure to view our shop for even more Valentine themed baking supplies!