Valentine’s Day Sweets

The best part about Valentine’s Day, next to a romantic date with your sweetie is undoubtedly all the sweets! Chocolates, cakes, cookies, you name it, I’m in love with it. So with it being Valentine’s Day I’ve decided to share this super cute cookie recipe! What’s your favorite Valentine’s Day treat?

Here’s what you’ll need:

*Sugar cookies, cut into heart shapes (I used a cookie cutter that’s about 1 1/2?).
*Glacé Icing.
*Food coloring gel (I use the pots of Wilton food coloring available at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, etc.) in red or hot pink and black.
*To read over the tutorial from the icing link.
*3 icing bags, 3 regular-sized couplers, and 3 tips (I used Wilton 3 and 4)
*Cookie or lollipop sticks (optional–I needed to make LOTS of these, so I didn’t do the sticks, but they would be adorable in a cookie bouquet)

After you’ve mixed your icing, place about 2 Tbsp.-¼ c. of white icing for the eyes into an icing bag fitted with a coupler and a tip no larger than a 3.

Mix 2/3 c. of the icing with hot pink or red. Then remove ¼ c. of icing and mix it with 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar so it’s slightly stiffer. Place that icing in a bag fitted with a coupler and a 3- or 4-sized tip. The other bowl of pink icing can remain in the bowl.

Mix 1/3-½ c. icing with the black coloring. Reserve about 1 Tbsp. for the irises of the eyes. Place the remaining black icing in a bag fitted with a coupler and a size 3 tip.

Using the pink icing bag, trace the outline of the heart of each cookie.

Then trace a line across the heart about 1/3 of the way from the tip of the heart.

Allow this icing to firm up for about 15-20 minutes (you can actually use this time to mix up the other colors). When it’s ready (it doesn’t have to be solid, just not totally liquid), use a small spoon to carefully fill the curvy part of the heart with pink or red icing.

Then use the bag of black icing to carefully dot some black icing into the point of the heart. Use a toothpick to gently spread the black into all the corners.

See how I have black dots on these cookies? Yeah, don’t do that. 🙂 I tried a couple of methods and decided I liked my cookies much better when I let the pink/red icing dry before I added my ladybug dots.

Now’s a good time to take a little break. Give your cookies 45-60 minutes to dry. This is the perfect time to wash some dishes. Or work out. Or take a nap.

When the cookies have had a chance to harden a little, use the bag of black icing to dot your little lovebugs however you’d like. Then use the bag of white to carefully make two little white eyes on the black icing. Using a toothpick dipped in the reserved black icing, dot little irises on each ladybug.

So cute, right?! And these were surprisingly easy (despite what the mess in my kitchen might tell you. The mess in my kitchen tells a lot of lies). Give these a good 12-24 hours before stacking them, although you can (and should) eat them right away.

**Recipe found at: Our Best Bites