Saturday, February 12, 2011

Sweet Valentine: Soft Sugar Cookie Recipe

 So tomorrow is Valentines Day.
Does anyone else feel like Valentines Day is the one holiday that really creeps up on you?
You've just finished celebrating Christmas and the New Year and bam Valentines Day is knocking on your door.

I decided to bake up some valentines treats for my family as an early valentines present,
seeing as my actual Valentine is 10, 000 miles away. 

This year was Sugar Cookies - two ways! 
Half of the batch had chewy jam heart centres, while the second half of the batch was frosted.


Two different cookies from one recipe? Simple! 

I still haven't decided which of the two I like best.
The jam hearts are definitely more grown up and sophisticated,
while the frosted hearts are super cute!

These cookies melt in your mouth, they're not a crunchy cookie whatsoever
This is partly due to the sour cream in the recipe which give them a super soft texture.

Sweetheart Sugar Cookies 

 1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
125g butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour 
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 180*C (350*F).
Beat butter until soft 
(if you're using softened butter, you can skip this step - I'm just too impatient)
add in sour cream, sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 - 3 minutes. 
Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. 
Cover dough and chill in fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.

Turn out dough onto a floured board, roll out to about 1/2 centimetre/1/4 inch thick.
(You may need to add a little more flour to make the dough more workable - but don't add too much or you won't have soft cookies!)
Use cookie cutters to make shapes and transfer to a lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes until light golden brown - no longer!
When you take the cookies out of the oven they may look underdone - but don't worry, you'll thank me later for your soft melt in your mouth cookies!

Adaptions -
Crunchy cookies: Bake for 5 or so minutes longer, your cookies will be brown on the outside with a lighter brown centre and will harden upon cooling.
Jam Centred Cookies: Cut out shapes in the middle of your cookies and fill with jam, bake for 8 minutes at 180*C before turning the oven down to 120*C for a further 5-10 minutes, or until jam starts to set. 

Sugar Cookie Frosting
125g Butter
2 1/2 cups Icing Sugar
2 tbsp Milk 
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Beat butter until soft.
Add sugar, milk and vanilla and beat until pale and creamy.
Add in food colouring as you wish!



All you have left to do is package them up for your Sweet Valentine! 
That's if they make it to them.

So tell me,
What's your favourite holiday?
and how are you spending Valentines Day?

My favourite holiday is Christmas, HANDS DOWN. 
If it could be Christmas every single day of the year I'd be in heaven!
I don't know how people could ever tire of it!

15 comments:

  1. These are the most beautiful cookies I have ever seen. Kristy, you truly are amazing! Your family is extremely lucky to have you whipping up tasty treats for them - what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to share the love with heart-shaped cookies!?

    I am definitely making Valentine's cupcakes today!

    I love Christmas, too. It's the most beautiful celebration of the year. Everyone comes together and the love that is shared is overwhelming. Family are the best!

    Happy Valentine's Day, Kristy.
    <3

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  2. Valentines Cupcakes sound perfect! Family definitely are the best - what would we do without them?!
    Happy Valentines Day to you too, El!

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  3. Very pretty and happy Valentines Day to you Kristy! :D

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  4. Love the idea of being able to do 2 different kind of cookies! So pretty :) My favorite holiday is Halloween. Did you know there's a place in the US called Christmas Florida!? It is Christmas there all year long!

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  5. Mmmm, that sour cream must make for delicious tasting cookies. These look so pretty. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog until tomorrow evening and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your cookies up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-4.html

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  6. Allie - Me too! It's always good when a recipe can be versatile! Christmas Florida?! Umm.. can I please have an invitation to live there?!?! I am SO looking this up!

    Lisa - I'll definitely be linking my cookies! Thanks so much :) I'll re-link in my next post too :)

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  7. These are beautiful and romantic cookies. :) Nice to see you making them 2 ways. hm...they really look buttery and melt in your mouth delicious! BTW, thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. :) Hope to see you back soon. Happy Valentine's Day to you.

    Amy
    http://utry.it

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  8. Hey Kristy
    Just browsed your blog and you are one talented lady. You're only 18?? Keep up the great work, can not wait to see more of your amazing photos.
    hugs
    Manni
    www.ibakecakes-manni.blogspot.com

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  9. Amy - Thanks so much, Happy Valentines Day!
    Manni - Thanks for stopping by, you're too sweet! :)

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  10. These look delcious! Thank you for sharing the recipe :) I am your newest follower, hope you will follow me back too - I look forward to reading your future blog posts!!

    http://sweetenedbykagi.blogspot.com/

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  11. Thanks for much for stopping by and following my blog! Your cakes are gorgeous, I'm definitely a new follower! :)

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  12. cute cookies!!
    we didn't bother doing anything. I didn't even get creative in the kitchen!! too worn out between work and doing everything at home due to Hamsley still nursing his injury.
    x

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  13. Nawwh, you can always make up for it on a random weekend! Who needs a holiday when you can celebrate any day :)

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  14. Thanks for linking this up to Sweets for a Saturday.

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