Valentine's Shortbread Cookies

Love is in the air, but no, it’s not Valentine's day… or is it?
Heart-shaped cookies line the table in different sizes. Specks and patches of flour coat the walls and floor, almost like the first snow of the winter season. Torn pieces of parchment paper spread across the table in clumps. The cookies appear lightly browned, but you know that on the inside, they’re creamy and soft—like store-bought cookies, but better. Unlike store-bought cookies, these ones are made with love and care. Time freezes almost like a broken clock as you survey the kitchen and the living room. Your mind flashes back to Christmas 2023, when you first had made shortbread cookies.

The memories play out in front of you, almost like you’re back in the kitchen, covered in flour and with a giant smile on your face. It only grows the more you spend laughing at the misshapen cookies and the mess that has somehow ended up on the walls.
Even before making them, when you were buying the ingredients, it was a magical time, because it was yours. It belonged to the people who were there beside you, holding your hand or helping you knead the dough when your hands became sore and full of blisters.
You remember the way they handed you the mixer and told you to be careful, even though they knew you couldn’t resist turning the mixer to maximum speed, splattering batter everywhere.
Then you put the disfigured cookie dough in the oven and watched it rise and rise and rise. Maybe you forgot to check on it, maybe you thought it was only in the oven for a few minutes. But that didn’t matter, it never did, even though the cookies didn’t turn out great, or taste anything like a shortbread cookie.
It was always just for fun, there was no goal or challenge. Because the love that sprouted for something so simple as cookies, is something that will never die. Love is in the air, forever and always.

Materials:

Piping bags (One for each colour)
Plastic Wrap (Saran Wrap)
Parchment lined baking sheet

(Ingredients found at Bulk Barn!, easy to acquire)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, (room temperature)
⅔ cup powdered icing sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or imitation French vanilla extract, both work)
½ cup red Merckens molding wafers
½ cup white Merckens molding wafers
½ cup of Valentines smarties
¼ cup of heart candies (You can choose, as they’re just for decorations 🙂)

Tools:

Paddle attachment for a mixer (This is optional, it’s recommended but you can make the recipe without it)
Electric or hand mixer
Double Boiler (To melt the chocolate) or microwave if you don’t have one (Gently)
2 pots (Preferably one larger for the bottom and one smaller for the top, if you have a double boiler)
Wire Rack (To cool the cookies)
Fridge (Click off the recipe if you don’t have one)
Rolling pin
Heart shaped cookie cutters
Cookie tray (One that can be placed in the oven)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C)

2. In the bowl, using an electric or hand mixer, whip butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy (About 2 minutes).

3. Using a paddle attachment, gently mix in the flour and salt mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a ¼ inch thick (.6 cm) disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap and leave at room temp for 20 minutes to firm up ensuring that it can be rolled out properly.

4. On a light floured surface roll out dough into a ¼ inch (.6 cm) thick circle. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out shapes and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, place in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

5. Melt coloured molding wafers in a double boiler, (or gently in the microwave until thoroughly melted) and pour melted chocolate into pipings bags.

6. Use melted chocolate to pipe designs and to attach decorative candies onto cookies.

7. Enjoy!

(Makes about 20 shortbread cookies)