Cut-out cookies for Valentine's Day
Hi all - I got these super cute heart-shaped cookie cutters, and so I thought for Valentine's Day I would make my boyfriend cut-out cookies and decorate them to look like those candy hearts with sayings on them.
Does anyone have a fantastic cut-out cookie recipe? I am open to anything, any flavor - the only caveat is that it has to be nut/sesame free. If there is a specific icing that goes along with them, please let me know - otherwise I will likely just make the usual powdered sugar/milk icing with different color food colorings.
Thanks!!!
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21 Comments:
Well, I have many dozens of cut-out cookie recipes...are you wanting a sugar cookie? More of a shortbread? Chocolate?
As for icing, I would use royal icing. It hardens so your cookies don't smear, and gives better control for writing and flooding by a long shot.
Also not as sweet as that sugar/milk mix.
3 egg whites (you can use pasteurized, though I never do) or meringue powder.
4 cups (give or take) powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice (opt, or use vanilla)
In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You can find more tips on using the royal if needed, just google.
sadiepix at 8:12PM on 02/02/09
I have been using this recipe from Betty Crocker for years. This recipe has been in all the Betty Crocker cookbooks for more than 40 years. In fact, I took the butter and egg out of the fridge just a few hours ago for the cookies I plan to bake tomorrow. You could omit the almond extract and replace it with extra vanilla extract. Your powdered sugar frosting would work just fine.
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/recipe.aspx?recipeID=34165&Source=SearchResultPage&terms=sugar%20cookies
Suzzanne at 8:20PM on 02/02/09
I am up for anything - shortbreads might not be as good unless they can be thinner shortbreads. I might make partial recipes of a few different types to give some variety.
that icing recipe sounds interesting... I won't be writing on the cookies with the icing though (for that I was going to use this pen that is made for writing or drawing on cookies that I saw), just spreading the icing on to give it the candy heart look.
NYCEater at 8:21PM on 02/02/09
The spice roll-out cookies from Epicurious are my favorite of that type. They're a little bit like gingerbread cookies, but actually they taste exactly like the windmill cookies I used to love when I was a kid. So they're not just for Christmas. There are also vanilla and chocolate roll out cookies in the same grouping of recipes. They're all by Dorie Greenspan and appeared in Bon Appetit a couple years ago.
dbcurrie at 8:54PM on 02/02/09
When I read your post I was reminded of this:
Improved Custom Message Hearts
(I'm a big nerd) These look really cool. They use a simple shortbread recipe. It's a good choice because shortbread can be thick without being rock hard. It doesn't have a recipe, though.
I also like the stenciled block lettering because I dont really trust myself to do much lettering with a pastry bag.
engmcmuffin at 9:01PM on 02/02/09
The pen I think you are talking about is not going to work very well unless your icing is hard or at least a crusting one.
The royal would do that wonderfully.
Keep it thinner (use less sugar) so it floods the cookie nice and smooth, and then once it is hard the edible marker will work like a dream on it.
sadiepix at 9:05PM on 02/02/09
don't mean to highjack this thread, but a quick question about shortbread for cut-out cookies... i never seem to get a sharp edged cookie with my shortbread, the high butter content seems to make them spread out too much in the oven.
i have tried refrigerating the dough before rolling & cutting, and then refrigerating the cut out cookies again before baking, but still i end up with puddles of dough rather than crisp defined cut outs.
anybody out there with some hints?
(one v-day, i even re-cut the hearts from baked cookies to acheive that nice looking heart shape!)
sugartoast at 11:42PM on 02/02/09
@sugartoast~ Start a thread. You'll get more responses that way.
@NYCeater~Either Brooke or Buffy gave me a yummy potato chip/butter cookie recipe that at christmastime that you might be able to use. I'll look for it now.
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 12:07AM on 02/03/09
Hmm...My cut-out shortbreads do soften on the edges a bit, bit still maintain shape quite well.
I use different shortbread recipes for the patterned thick cookies/large rounds, that are quite flaky/crumbly, but for cut-outs I use a firmer recipe and roll them fairly thin, and the oven temp is never above 325.
This is my recipe.
1 c. butter
1 1/3 c. pwd. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 c. flour
2 tsp vanilla
Cream butter and sugar. Add salt, vanilla and flour. Chill slightly, then roll out and cut as desired. Press onto a greased cookies sheet (to prevent bubbling/air pockets) and bake from 8-12 minutes, depending on cookie thickness. Do not allow them to brown.
Good luck! I know I tried a sugar cookie recipe 2 years ago for patterned heart shaped cookies (and did not test first) and was so sad when they rose and spread so much the pattern was obliterated.
sadiepix at 12:13AM on 02/03/09
sugartoast - There are several reasons why your cookies spread out. Most recipes call for "room temperature" butter, but slightly chilled butter often works better. Somewhere between refrigerator cold and room temperature is what I try to work with (just take the butter out of the fridge and cut it into pieces, and let it sit on the counter for about five minutes - this will warm it up to the right temp, depending on the room temp).
You may want to consider freezing the dough beforehand. Also using a cold cookie tray will help, run the cookie tray under cold water beforehand - or stick it in the fridge for five or ten minutes beforehand.
Another reason maybe the temperature of your oven. Purchase an oven thermometer, or get your oven calibrated. If the temperature is too cool (the recipe calls for 350 and your oven is actually at 325 or 300 or whatever) will allow the cookies to spread. Basically you want the outside of the cookie to set a little bit, before the inside of the cookie gets melty.
If none of these ideas work, try swapping half of the butter with crisco or shortening (it's okay to use butter flavored shortening).
Hope this helps!
jackhonky at 1:19AM on 02/03/09
thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my crisp-edged heart.
sugartoast at 1:34PM on 02/03/09
Absolute best ever cut-out cookies are the Sour Cream Cookies from the Settlement Cookbook (it's a Milwaukee thing.. are you reading Adam?). They are light, fluffy and not overly sweet- perfect with your basic powdered sugar & milk icing. Also they keep well in a cookie tin for a solid 3-4 weeks. I don't have the recipe with me, but can look it up when I get home if you like.
Embackus at 4:32PM on 02/03/09
@NYCEater - Thanks for the idea to decorate the cookies to look like the candy conversation hearts. I decorated cookies today with pastel tinted frosting and they turned out great! A nice change from the pink/red/white plate of cookies. You have a lucky boyfriend.
Suzzanne at 8:38PM on 02/03/09
@Embackus - I'd love the recipe!
@Suzzanne - I tell my boyfriend how luck he is all the time! :) I'm glad the cookies turned out well!
NYCEater at 8:41PM on 02/03/09
hazelnut linzer sandwich cookies! a heart within a heart!
granita at 12:10AM on 02/04/09
I always love those little crisp butter cookies with the seedless raspberry jam filling. Choose a medium to large cutter and cut the middles out of half of them with a small cutter. The little centers can be baked separately and just sprinkled with powdered sugar, or sprinkled with sanding sugar before baking.
Calichef at 3:31AM on 02/04/09
Embackus:
Is this the recipe you speak of? The Setttlement Cookbook is available online via Google books. I couldn't find any recipe labeled "Sour Cream Cookies" but I did find this one from the 1915 edition that sounds good:
CRISP COOKIES
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2teaspoon soda
4 cups flour
Cream butter add sugar and stir add eggs mix well and add the rest of the ingredients the soda with the sour cream Toss on floured board roll out thin and cut into rounds Bake in shallow pans in a hot oven about 10 minutes
m0pngl0w at 4:43PM on 02/04/09
@NYCEater... I'll put it up tonight if I can find it!
Embackus at 4:43PM on 02/04/09
Hmm m0pngl0w, that sounds familiar, but I know my version has a little nutmeg in it. Maybe this recipe is an earlier incarnation of mine, since it's from the 1915 book? I will check out the Google books and get back to you.
Embackus at 5:07PM on 02/04/09
@Embackus: Sorry for the late chime-in here. I don't think I know the Settlement Cookbook. I was born in Milwaukee, but we moved from there a couple years after. I still have relatives there--grandmother, tons of aunts and uncles and cousins (my mom is the last of seven kids—Catholics, heh). I'll ask the family about Settlement.
Adam Kuban at 12:44PM on 02/06/09
sadiepix: i just tried your shortbread recipe with not much success - the cookie dough is *extremely* crumbly (almost like pie crust dough, but even crumblier). i used four cups of flour, as you posted, but wonder if that might be the problem?
any ideas?
thanks in advance.
sugartoast at 1:32PM on 02/10/09