Do you want to give your friends a neighbours a fun little Valentine treat? Do you have a heart-shaped cookie cutter? Bake some cookies…add some cloth to the top of a jar (tie some yarn or use an elastic to secure the cloth on the jar) and serve…
Ingredients For the Cookies…
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
⅔ cup of white sugar
¼ teaspoon of salt
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free flour, like Cup4Cup, plus more for rolling out the dough
For the Icing
1 and ½ cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon light corn syrup*
2 – 2.5 Tablespoons (30-38ml) room temperature water
⅛ teaspoon of salt
Instructions Into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or using a hand-held mixer), beat the butter, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla extract for 3 minutes on medium-low speed. The mixture should be creamy and a light yellow color. Using a large wooden spoon, slowly add in the flour. The dough may be crumbly, and this is okay. Once all of the flour has been added and mixed as best as possible with a spoon, turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop.
Work the dough with your fingers, kneading as necessary to make everything incorporated and smooth for just a few turns. Shape the dough into a ball, then cut in half. Wrap in plastic wrap (or bee’s wrap for a greener alternative) and flatten with your hands, until they form a flat disk shape. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow the cookie dough to rest for 5-7 minutes at room temperature before rolling. Otherwise, it will crack.
Lightly flour a work surface with gluten-free flour. Roll out the dough until about ¼ inch thickness, then use cutters in heart shapes or other shapes of choice. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with Silpat silicone baking liners. With the remaining scraps of dough, reroll and continue cutting out shapes until no more dough remains.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes but BE CAREFUL. Rotate the pans halfway through baking, and watch once you get to the 10-minute mark. They can turn dark and brown very quickly, especially if they are on the thinner side. We only want them to be lightly browned along the edges. As soon as you see that, remove them from the oven.
The cookies will be very delicate once removed. Allow them to sit on the baking sheet for another 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely for 2-3 hours or overnight before frosting.
To make the icing, mix together the confectioners sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons of water in a medium-sized bowl. Have another bowl out and handy if you plan to make different colors. The icing should be thick. If it is too thick to work with, add another ½ tablespoon of water and whisk again. If it seems too thin, and 2 more tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar. Add food coloring as desired and pipe.
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