Shortbread Sweeties

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In the large bowl of your mixer, combine flour, sugar and salt. Then cut butter into small pieces, like you would for pie dough or biscuits. Then add butter pieces into flour mixture and blend on low to start so the flour doesn’t come spilling out.

Then as butter begins to get cut into the flour, increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla. Continue mixing dough until it just comes together. Now roll dough out on a floured silicone baking mat or use a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness and cut into 3-inch heart shapes.

Place cookies on baking pans lined with parchment paper. These cookies are flaky and slightly delicate so the parchment paper makes them easy to handle. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes until edges begin to turn golden.

Once cookies are cool, it is time to make the frosting. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine powdered sugar, water, corn syrup and vanilla. Heat over medium low heat, whisking sugar mixture until it melts and comes together.

Remove frosting from heat. Add food coloring. It’s easier to control the color if you take a few tablespoons of the white icing out and place in a small bowl. Then add a drop or two of desired food coloring. Once you get this concentrated color, add a little of that concentrated icing back to the main mixture until you get the exact shade you want. Once you get the icing mixed, it’s time to frost the cookies.

Take a cookie and hold it over the pan and spoon a little icing on top. Then tilt cookie slightly to allow the icing to evenly cover the top. Once it is covered well, take the edge of a rubber spatula or table knife and push any drips or excess icing off the edges of the cookie for a smooth finish. Immediately add sprinkles or sanding sugar on top. If you wait, then the icing will set and the sprinkles won’t stick. So frost and sprinkle one cookie at a time. Stir icing from time to time and if it starts to cool in the pan, you can heat it slightly on low. The icing will cool and set on your cookies in about 20 to 30 minutes.

Once icing is set, you can stack cookies. They keep well at room temperature, which makes them great for sharing.