Brownie Roll-Out Cookies for Valentine's Day

Do you follow me on twitter? If you don't, you should (twitter.com/hteac)! If you do, you saw my tweet earlier about my Valentine's Day cookies and my promise of an interesting story. "Interesting" isn't exactly the right word. "Heart-breaking" would be more appropriate (as well as ironic, seeing as how these are Valentine's Day cookies)! I spent somewhere around 4 hours making these beautiful cookies from start to finish yesterday. I took a few to work this morning, but I left the prettiest at home so I could get a good picture when I had time to blog. While I was at work I got a text from my mom. The text read, "I guess I don't need to tell you what happened to your cookies. WRINKLES happened to your cookies. Sorry." Wrinkles is our dog. HE ATE MY MOTHER FLIPPIN COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!! Sure, I left them on the table, covered in THREE SHEETS of plastic wrap. But he's a beagle, and his nose could smell the tiniest crumb a mile away! My text back to my mom read, "Kill him." :(

When I got home, there was a container on the stove that held the few cookies he apparently couldn't fit into his drooling, disgusting, gluttonous mouth. Some of them were worthy enough for a photo, but none of them were worthy of eating. Who knows if any of his slimy, dripping spit got onto any of them. They had to go in the trash. But I'll have you know, the uncontaminated cookies I ate yesterday were DELICIOUS! Thank you to Amanda for making them on her blog and giving me the idea! And big ups to Smitten Kitchen's mom for being the original holder of this recipe! ;)

See this post for Royal Icing recipe.
Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. (I rolled mine between two sheets of plastic wrap. It was buttery enough that it didn't need any flour to keep it from sticking.) Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. (My cookies were 1/4-inch thick and they only needed 9 minutes in the oven.)

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Truffles & Chocolates For My Sweetie!

Last year I decorated sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. That took FOREVER, and I swore I'd never do it again. This year I decided to make some chocolates. It also took quite a while, but it was a little more creative and fun. I'll definitely make these again. I took my time and spread the work out over a 2-day period. Tuesday I molded the chocolate shells. First I dusted the molds with luster dust. Then I filled them with chocolate and flipped them over so most of the chocolate would drip out. Wednesday I made the fillings and filled each of the chocolates. I packed two cute little boxes, one for my dad and one for Josh. Josh ate ALL of his chocolates last night! His favorites were mine too: chocolate covered caramels and cherry buttercreams. If you want any of the recipes I'll e-mail them to you. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

Perfect for Valentine's Day! These are deeelicious... but then again I love any cupcake paired with whipped cream and chocolate sauce! The original recipe is "Choc 'n' Cherry Cupcakes" from 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly, but I changed it because I didn't have fresh cherries or cherry liqueur. They're perfect!

ingredients...Yummy batter! Ready for the oven... the empty cups are filled with water.
TADA!!Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes (If you'd like the original, I'll scan it for you!)

For the cupcakes
(Makes 20-24)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
4 tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used 2 tbsp. Hershey's Special Dark and 2 tbsp. regular Hershey's cocoa)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped marascino cherries (I used a food processor to chop them finely)

For the topping
1 1/2 cups heavy cream + 1/4 cup (for chocolate drizzle)
3 tbsp. confectioners' sugar, sifted
20-24 maraschino cherries + 2 tbsp maraschino juice (or you could use cherry flavored liqueur for a stronger cherry taste)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325F (160C). Place 20-24 paper baking cups in muffin pans. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Set aside. Cream the sugar and butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the flour mixture and the cherries, and stir until well combined. Spoon
the batter into the cups filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full (I got 20 big cupcakes using a 1/3 cup scoop, could've gotten 24 if I'd used 1/4 cup batter). Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove pans from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and cool on a rack.

For the topping, bring 1/4 cup heavy cream to a boil using the stove or microwave. Pour over the chocolate chips and let sit for 5 minuets. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters, whip the cream and confectioners' sugar together until slightly stiff. Gently stir in maraschino juice. Spread whipped cream generously on cupcakes. Place a cherry in the center and drizzle chocolate on top.
Keep refrigerated.

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

I spent about 2-3 hours in the kitchen on Saturday running back and forth from the refrigerator... to the kitchen table... to the oven... to my cooling table outside... back to the refrigerator... etc. Eventually I ended up with 98 cookies! I would've had 99, but I had to sneak one right off the hot pan. Sunday, I just chilled because I was sick of looking at the little golden brown hearts. Monday and Tuesday I spent a few more hours putting icing on the cookies. I've said before that I'm definitely not an artist, so they don't look as good as I wanted them to. But they taste great, and that's what matters most to me!

Sunday - 98 cookiesTuesday - not nearly 98... there are cookie thieves in my house!I put them in these cute bags I found at Dollar Tree!

"The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies" from Allrecipes.com
One batch made almost 100 assorted sized cookies.
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely on wire rack.

"Sugar Cookie Icing" from Allrecipes.com
You'll end up playing with the amount of milk and corn syrup in this depending on how thick you want your icing to be. I had to use 1 tablespoon of each. I made 2 1/2 batches to ice about 50-60 cookies.
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I used strawberry extract for some of them)
assorted food coloring

In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings and extracts to each to desired intensity and flavor. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.