Aren’t these the most beautiful Valentine’s Day cookies you’ve ever seen? I admit, I haven’t seen many cookies for this holiday, well, not if you exclude the mass produced variety at the grocery store…  These take a little bit of time, but ooooh, the result is A WORK OF ART! I last posted this recipe on my PHOTO BLOG (click for link) for Christmas cookies, but here it is again, I hope you give them a try! This time I made the dough on Friday, got busy on Saturday, then set them out on the counter for a little while on Sunday before rolling and cutting into heart shapes and baking. The decorating part looks like the most time consuming, but if you don’t get too uptight about it (me) and can just swirl it on (Fred, my husband) then it looks beautiful and is done in a snap! Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day!

VALENTINE’S DAY BUTTER COOKIES

Sift 2 3/4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

In mixer bowl add 3/4 cup soft butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Beat until fluffy and light. Slowly beat in flour mixture. CHILL ONE HOUR.

Flour your work surface and roll out dough. Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

YIELD: 4 dozen (IF you don’t eat the dough… good luck to ya!)

FROSTING

Mix 1/4 cup butter, 4 cups (1 box) confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup scalded cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Blend until smooth. Scoop into separate bowls and add food coloring (hint: Valentine cookies are good just red, light pink and white). Scoop colored frosting into Ziplock bag (I use freezer) and snip a little off the corner. Squeeze onto cookie to decorate! If you need the frosting thinned a bit more, I have great luck just using light cream, add a little at a time until it will easily come out of the bag to decorate.