Valentine Shortbread Cookies

For these cookies I used heart shaped cookie cutters in two sizes. I like my cookies jumbo size, so mine were approximately 4 inches and 2 inches.

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Use your stand mixer to cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Turn mixer to slow, and gradually add flour 1/2 cup at a time. Blend well.

Dough will be crumbly. Don’t fret. This dough reminds me of Moon sand. It does amazing things.

Split your dough into two equal parts. On a clean, lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough. You need to roll the dough out thick—about 1/4 inch thick. You want a thick, hearty shortbread cookie. If you are looking for a thin, crumbly, flimsy cookie we ain’t the same kind of people.

Cut out your cookies with the 4 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Remove the center of half of the cookies by using the 2 inch heart-shaped cutter to cut out the center of the larger hearts. Keep the other half of the cookies (the large ones) intact.

Set the hearts on a parchment lined baking sheet at least one inch apart. Gather the dough scraps and roll it out again to make additional cookies. Repeat with the same cutting process. Then repeat the same process with the second half of the dough.

Bake 20 minutes at 300 F. I do not wait for brown edges. Remove from oven just before edges begin to brown.

Remove cookies from the sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Once cool, spread jelly on the large heart cookies. Top with a cut-out heart cookie. (See photo).

Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Step back and admire your masterpiece.

A bonus to making these cookies is the extra smaller heart cookies you have from removing the center of the top cookies. I grabbed some vanilla frosting, M&M’s and colored sugars and topped the small hearts with this—to switch gears and make a few different cookies for my munchkins.