These are a gorgeous, not-too-sweet cookie. Sparkly with sanding sugar, subtly hot with candy hearts, sweet with vanilla icing. They are like that perfect first kiss.

Our gift to you: The perfect Valentine’s Day cookie recipe.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ pound unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• ½ cup organic sugar

Vanilla Buttercream Filling

• 3 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
• 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• about 1 ½ – 2 tablespoons whole milk

Decoration and Icing

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon sugar (you can make your own by mixing cinnamon & sugar together)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 jar red or pink sanding sugar (or a mix of pink, red & white sprinkles)
• cinnamon heart candies and/or sweet-heart candies

Directions

1. In a bowl with your fingers, rub flour and butter until mixture forms pea-sized lumps. Add cream and stir with a fork until dough holds together.
2. Pat dough into a ball, then divide in half. Flatten each portion into a 5-inch-wide disk. Wrap airtight and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
3. Sprinkle work surface with 6 tablespoons and dust rolling pin with 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar. Roll dough on sugar, one disk at a time, to 1/8″ thick, turning over frequently and dusting with more sugar if needed to prevent sticking. Cut out cookies with a 4-inch heart cutter. Gather excess dough into a ball, re-roll (adding sugar when/if necessary) and cut out remaining cookies.
4. Place cookies ½ inch apart on buttered and floured or parchment-lined baking trays. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before baking.
5. Bake cookies in a 315 F oven until golden, about 15 – 20 minutes, switching trays halfway through baking. Allow to cool slightly on trays and then transfer to racks to cool completely.
6. Meanwhile, make filling: in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter with powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough milk to make mixture smooth and thick enough to spread.
7. Spread one side of half the cookies with vanilla buttercream filling. Top with remaining cookies.
8. Make topping: Combine icing sugar, butter, cinnamon sugar, vanilla and milk, beating until creamy. Thin with a few more drops of milk (if necessary) to reach spreading consistency.
9. Ice tops of cookies and before icing hardens, decorate tops with a dusting of pink and white sanding sugars and candy hearts or sweet-heart candies.

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