Heart Valentine Cookies {Recipe}

In honor of Valentine’s Day I had fun frosting these heart valentine cookies.  I whipped up a batch of sugar cookies and some royal icing and got to work.  Even though Pat and I don’t do anything for the holiday (we’re just gross and romantic all year round), it’s still fun to bring a batch of pretty heart cookies to the hospital for the staff to eat!  Do you have any big plans or traditions tomorrow?

Heart Valentine Cookies with Royal Icing

You will need:

• Sugar Cookies
• Powdered Sugar
• Meringue Powder – My favorite is Ateco
• Cream of Tartar
• Powdered Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Gel Food Coloring
• Piping Bags
• Piping Tips – I love this set

1.  Make your royal icing by hand mixing 3/4 c. warm water and 5T. meringue powder in your mixing bowl for 30 seconds.

2.  Add 1 tsp. cream of tartar and mix another 30 seconds.

3.  Add 2.25 lbs of powdered sugar and mix with the paddle attachment on slow speed for 10 to 15 minutes or until  the icing is thick and glossy.  Add 1 tsp. vanilla and mix another 30 seconds

4.  Separate out about 3 cups of icing into another small bowl.  Thin the icing, a few drops of water at a time until when you run a knife through it, it takes about 10 seconds for the mark to disappear.

5.  Add the only slightly thinned royal icing to your piping bag and pipe an outline on the cookies.

6.  Add about 10 more drops of water to the icing in the small bowl and fill another piping bag.  Use this icing to “flood” your cookies.  Tap them gently so the frosting settles.

7.  Use gel icing coloring to create different colors to pipe your designs with.  For this icing, I used a consistency that was about the same as the outlines.

8.  Pipe away!  You can use a glass with a wet paper towel in the bottom to hold the bags when you aren’t using them.  You can also cover your large bowl of royal icing with a piece of plastic wrap to keep it from drying out while you work.

P.S. – How cute is the cookie sheet I used?  I got it for $1 at St. Vincent de Paul.  What a find!