Little Hearts for Valentine’s Day

If you do a little research, you can find all kinds of information about the origins of Valentine’s Day. https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2
I take it all with a grain of salt as for me, Valentine’s day (like every other holiday) is just an opportunity to celebrate friendship, kindness and thinking about other people ahead of yourself. Having an opportunity to celebrate some of the traditions that have been “modernized” in our culture, allows us to look for ways to show kindness and take time to think about ways to make those around you feel special and loved.

Today, I made some strawberry-flavoured heart cookies. I used my Christmas sugar cookie recipe. I added Strawberry Emulsion Syrup to colour them pink and flavour them with strawberry.
Sugar Cookies
I cup of monk fruit sugar (or regular)
1/2 cup of shortening
1/2 cup of butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 extra large egg (or two large)
2 1/2 cups of flour
(1 1/2 cups sweet rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup of tapioca flour,
1 teaspoon of xanthum gum)
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Cream shortening, butter, sugar and vanilla…add egg. Sift dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Form into a ball and chill for an hour. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes. You can decorate with sprinkles before baking or use icing after they cool.

I like to think of a few ways to show some random acts of kindness every week so, having a little holiday to center my kindness around always adds to the fun.