Cookie Valentines

I liked a lot of the ideas from the article on the kids sock hop, but with no time (or inclination) to throw a kids party this month, I decided to combine the ideas for the party favors and lip cookies into one project—cookie valentines for my kids class parties.   I went with the heart cookies and nixed the lips.  The lips looked almost like they were cut by hand and since I was embracing the advice in the article to “incorporate the kids into the excitement,” I figured that would be a disaster.

We worked on the cards the weekend before the 14^th, using printed paper for the cards and the heart people, but pasted the hearts on the white side.  My son glued on the hearts and after accidentally gluing two hearts on one card, we agreed that it looked really cute and made the rest that way. 

Ellie's handiwork.

  

On to the cookies! I used the cookie recipe from the Land o’ Lakes butter box as recommended in the article.  Unfortunately, I waited until Sunday night to get around to the cookies and didn’t realize the dough had to sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours!  Total let down for the kids who thought they were getting cookies for dessert that night.  So, we made the dough (I threw two dough balls in the oven for the kids) and we rolled and baked the rest the next night. 

Rolling the dough was a pain!  By the time I rolled it out, it was already getting too soft to cut nicely and they didn’t come off the rolling surface easily.  It didn’t help that my 2-year old wanted to “help” by mushing the cut cookies onto the baking pan and putting her elbow in one.  No time for do overs, I covered up the dents with sanding sugar and stuck them in the oven.  By my last batch I had finally perfected a method of rolling out the dough in saran wrap, putting it in the freezer, and doing a short final roll before cutting.  Those cookies came out the best and didn’t spread much in the oven.  Even taking the cookies off the pan had to be timed right—too early and they bent and broke, two late and they cracked and broke.  Like Ali, I tend to avoid food that has to be rolled out so maybe this was just my inexperience or maybe this is why I tend to avoid rolling pins!

Ellie's elbow print.

The recipe said it would make three dozen cookies, but I managed only to squeak out only 26—the exact number I need for my kids classmates.  I broke two pretty badly (yes, I ate them) and I baked up one sad looking circle of left over dough in case my daughter’s class needed an extra.  Including the two from the night before it totaled 31, which I guess is not too far off and could easily have been that my cookies cutter was too big.  In the future I’d make a double batch to easy the stress about breaking them and to have extras for us. 

All in all they looked cute and the kids were really proud of their valentines.  My husband judged them to be the “best” of the ones he saw when he went to school and we did hear from our neighbors that one of my son’s classmates showed them the great cookie valentine she got.  Next time though, I’ll try to find a slightly stronger cookies recipe that can hold up better coming off the baking sheet and to help from a 2-year old.
-Jacqui