[Fun] Love Heart Cookies

Dear you,

Today, I decided we should have fun and forget about hospitals and such. That's why I'm switching back to English because I don't think a French patient in his right mind needs an article about heart-shaped sugar cookies!

Yesss! You've got it right: cookies as in... food! When friends and family started to visit me, I wanted to welcome them with something more meaningful than the usual processed cakes.  That's how I came up with this idea to do a little "clin d'oeil" as we say in French. 

Here is my personal recipe. Be warned, this post is loaded with pictures and sugar...

Ingredients

The things you'll need to make the cookie dough are:

• 125 g of all-purpose flour
• 50 g of white sugar
• 70 g of room temperature butter
• 1 egg white (you can add the yolk if you'd like. I don't eat them)
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar (for esthetic reasons since fresh vanilla makes black dots)
• a pinch of salt

For the cookie icing, I used

• 500 ml of confectionner sugar (that's around 340g).
• 20 ml of almond milk (or any milk you'd like)
• 2 tea spoon of light corn syrup (optional)
• Flavors according taste (I used orange blossom water, rose water and almond extract).
• Food coloring: green, yellow, pink, purple and red. I use the gel ones from Wilton.

Cookies

• Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them using your hands.
• If the dough is too sticky add some flour until it's nice and smooth.
• Form a ball and leave it in the fridge for one hour wrapped in saran wrap.

• Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and your rolling pin and spray the dough.
• Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut the little hearts and place them on a tray over wax paper.

• I like to leave the tray in the fridge while I preheat the oven at 185°C.
• Cook the cookies for around 10 minutes.

Icing

• Pour the confectionner sugar in a bowl and add the milk and the other wet ingredients little by little (I use a tea spoon).
• You don't want your icing to be too watery. If that happens, just add more sugar.
• When you have the right consistency, divide in 5 bowls.

• In each bowl add some food coloring. If you're using gel, use a toothpick. You need just a drop since we're looking for pastel colors. 
• I wanted the red one to be thicker and more intense so I added a bit more sugar and more food coloring.
• Pour each colored icing in a plastic bag for alimentary purpose. To do this, use a tall glass to help you get more control. Then tie the bag and don't put in the fridge!

Decoration

• Before decorating, make sure the cookies had plenty of time to cool.
• Cut the tip of the bag very close to the edge. You can also use a real tip for more control.

• Start by circling the heart with the icing. If you do this 15 by 15, the first ones will have time to dry enough for the following step.
• Fill the middle of the heart. At the end, I use a toothpick to spread more evenly.

• When it's dry use the red coloring to draw hearts and add little words.
• Tadaaaa! Enjoy and give them to yours friends to tell them how much you love them.

I hope you enjoyed something more festive :) If you try them, please send me a pic! If you have questions, don't hesitate to write a comment down below.

And, above all, I wish you all a healthy Happy New Year! May 2015 be sweet and filled with love, because honestly, nothing else matters.

♥♥♥ Love & Happy New Year!

La leçon à retenir / daily wisdom: don't take for a given the attention of people when you're sick. Being sick doesn't allow you to be selfish and ungrateful.

Ca aurait pu être pire / it could have been worst: it could have been a compote recipe.