Friday, January 8, 2010

Never too early for Hearts!

I had Dough in the refrigerator just begging to be baked. And, I
just couldn't wait to break out the Heart shaped cookie cutters...

However, someone reminded that it's Way too early for Valentine's cookies!
But that's okay because maybe I just want to make Heart-shaped cookies to
celebrate My birthday. Or, how much I love him. Hey! It could happen!

I love this Trick! Rolling my cookie dough between two pieces of parchment
paper eliminates the need to use any Flour at all. We all know that adding
too much flour to our dough can make our cookies Tough and dry

So this is the Only way I roll!

Because as you already know... I'm a Big fan of perfect!

And this is how it happens to Happen for me!

Not only doesn't the dough stick to the Parchment or my
rolling pin - Being able to Slide my hand underneath to lift
my cookie shapes free keeps them Perfectly perfect too!  

And off to the Freezer we go! Freezing before baking helps dough
rise a bit Higher and prevents the cookie shapes from spreading

After 10-minutes in the Freezer, bake at 350 for 17 minutes or until just
slightly Golden around the edges. Now that our Hearts are on their way...

It's time to get cracking on the Royal icing! Small batch of cookies
this time... So it's just a pound of Powdered sugar. Four tablespoons
of Meringue powder, 1 teaspoon cream of tarter and six tablespoons
of warm water. Oh! And a 1/2 teaspoon of extract to enhance the taste! 

And, off we go!

Watching it come together!

I've recently learned to Stop beating my royal icing to death. Now, I
turn Off the mixer the moment it begins to shine. Like this...

Perfect royal icing every time now!

We have a Game to catch in Raleigh tonight so
this is going to be an Easy, 1-color design!

Red!

What were you thinking... Blue?

No blue... Just red Hot hearts!

Not bad for a First-time heart drawing effort,
huh? Especially for one in such a Hurry!

I just might have to send some, or a few of these to
the Ranger and his Alabama-sweetheart because...

While it's true that it's a bit too early
to call these Valentine's Day cookies...

It's never too early to send Heart-shaped
cookies to those you Miss and love!

4 comments:

  1. I don't the fancy=dancy model of that Kitchen Aid. Do they make those glass bowls for the tilt head 4.5 quart?

    Very pretty cookies. Working on a few goals here, then I'm printing off your recipe and tips and finding some cookie baking stuff :)

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  2. Thank you for your kind words, Tamilyn!

    Kitchenaid will begin offering the glass mixing bowl for their Artisan stand mixers this Spring. In fact, Amazon.com has listed them for pre-sale. The bowl will also include a cover, which didn't come with the bowl included with my 90th anniversary edition of this mixer. I also have the 75th anniversary Kitchenaid stand mixer; however, it doesn't fit under my kitchen cabinets to stand on my counter - that's how I was able to justify treating myself to this second stand mixer. Now I have one on my kitchen counter!

    Treat yourself to the glass bowl - you deserve it! Although I will tell you - it's very Heavy empty, so when you use it, (and have it full of dough/batter/icing/whatever) you'll want to mind the weight and be careful handling.

    Best to you always!

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  3. I saw the glass bowl for presale on Amazon just last week and got excited, especially since there's a lid. But they're kind of expensive- $70-75 dollars I believe. Also it's for a 5 qt. mixer not a 4.5.

    Lovely cookies. I can picture these decorated in several different colors. I like the double hearts too.

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  4. You are just trying to make us all jealous with that mixer! ;)

    ReplyDelete

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