Decorated Heart Cookies

Show your love by baking and decorating these valentine cookies with your child. We made 2- and 3-inch cookies, but if your cookie cutters are of a different size, that will be fine as well.

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Ingredients

• 1 refrigerated roll of sugar cookie dough
• 1/4 cup meringue powder (such as Ateco; available in specialty food stores)
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• Food coloring
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted (white, milk, or semi-sweet chocolate)
• Colored sprinkles
• Shaped sprinkles (hearts, stars)
• Jellybeans
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted (white, milk, or semi-sweet chocolate)
• Large nonpareils
• Red fruit leather (such as Fruit Roll-Ups)
• Red-licorice shoelaces
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted (white, milk, or semi-sweet chocolate)

Supplies

• 2-in. and 3-in. heart-shaped cookie cutters
• Small, clean paintbrushes
• Scissors
• Pastry bag and decorating tips or resealable plastic bags

Directions

1. Step 1: Make the sugar cookies

   Prepare the sugar cookies according to the package instructions, and using heart-shaped cookie cutters. Allow to cool completely.

2. Step 2: Make the icings

   For glaze: using an electric mixer, mix together 1/8 cup meringue powder, 1/4 cup water, and up to 1 3/4 cup sugar. (You may want to start with slightly less sugar, then keep adding until it is the right consistency). Tint the icing with a few drops of food coloring. For stiff icing: using an electric mixer, mix together 1/8 cup meringue powder, 1/4 cup water, and at least 2 cups powdered sugar. (Add up to 1/2 cup more of sugar, if needed, to achieve the necessary stiffness.) Set aside the batch of stiff icing for later.

3. Step 3: Glaze the cookies

   Using a small spatula or butter knife, spread a very thin layer of the glaze to each cooled cookie. Let the glaze dry for at least an hour before decorating.

4. Step 4: Make tiered cookies

   Make two-tiered valentine cookies by stacking the 2-inch hearts on top of 3-inch hearts (or if you made different-sized cookies from what we used, stack the smaller cookie heart on top of the larger). Melt the chocolate morsels, following the package instructions. (Parents should do this part.) Spread a dollop of the melted chocolate onto the back of a small heart with a paintbrush and place the small heart on the large one. Be careful placing the small hearts; once you've set them in place, they will be hard to move without disturbing the melted-chocolate glaze. Before decorating the tiered cookies, let the chocolate dry for at least an hour.

5. Step 5: Make icing decorations

   If you want to pipe icing decorations onto cookies, cut the pointed end off a disposable pastry bag and insert a pastry tip. Fold back the top of the bag to make a 2-inch cuff. Fill the bag with several tablespoons of very stiff icing. Pull up the cuff and twist the top of the bag until the icing starts to come out of the tip. You can also use a zip-close plastic bag that has been snipped in one corner with scissors. Help your child hold the bag while piping icing onto the cookies. Make polka dots, borders, or your own designs. To write messages on cookies, use a very small pastry tip or cut a tiny hole in the corner of a zip-close bag. Before you try the real thing, practice on a piece of waxed paper.

6. Step 6: Make candy decorations

   To embellish cookies with candy decorations, try shaking on the colored and shaped sprinkles while the glaze is still wet. Cut the jellybeans in half (parents should do this part), brush the cut ends with the melted chocolate, and place them around the cookies. Use a dab of the melted chocolate to attach large nonpareils. (You can use the melted chocolate to attach small, printed valentine messages, too). Let the icing and chocolate dry for at least an hour.

7. Step 7: Make candy rose decorations

   To add a candy rose, press a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter into a piece of fruit leather in four places. Cut out the hearts with scissors. (Parents should do this part.) Remove the paper and tightly roll one heart into a cone. Cut the remaining hearts vertically into two pieces and stick them to the cone so they make overlapping petals. The pieces will stick together easily. Cut a 2-inch length of red licorice and press it firmly to the back of the rose for a stem. Brush the back of the rose and stem with melted chocolate. Carefully place the rose onto a large cookie and let the chocolate dry for at least an hour.

Nurtition Facts

• Calories: 178
• Total Fat: 6g
• Saturated Fat: 3g
• Trans Fat: 1g
• Cholesterol: 4mg
• Sodium: 82mg
• Total Carbs: 30g
• Fiber: 0g
• Sugar: 23g
• Protein: 2g