How to make Mom's Valentine sugar cookies

To make the dough you will need 1 cup of butter, 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar.

Using an electric mixer combine the sugar and butter until creamy, then add vanilla and egg. Mix together until well combined.  Then add remaining dry ingredients.  The dough should form a smooth firm ball.

Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 1-2 hours.  While the dough is chilling prepare for baking.  Prepare a clean place on the counter to roll out the dough.  Sprinkle the counter with a 3-4 tablespoons of flour. Too much will make the dough tough when it is rolled out.  It should just be enough to keep the dough from sticking.  Gather a rolling pin, Valentine's cookie cutters, baking sheets, and a spatula. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on the lightly floured counter top. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour on top of the dough.  Then gently use the rolling pin to flatten out the dough.  Pressing to hard, too quickly can result in cracks in the dough.  Begin in the middle of the ball of dough and work outward around the circle keeping even pressure on the rolling pin. Continue rolling out the dough until it is even at about 1/8 of an inch thick.  Thinner dough will result in crisper cookies that take less time to bake.

Using selected cookie cutters, press the cutters into the dough beginning at one edge. Try to keep all of the cookies close together to get as many as possible out of the rolling.  It can help to rotate the direction of the cutter's position. Once the cookies are cut out. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet leaving 1/2-1 inch between each cookie. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the cookies are cooling, Gather the desired decorations for the cookies.  Frosting, colored sugars, candies, coconut or other deired topping. 

Frost each cookie with frosting of a desired color. White and Pink are common colors, but don't be afraid to experiment. To create a vivid red frosting, purchase cake decorating gel colors. After frosting the cookies with a base color, add the decorations so that they stick to the frosting.  If planning to pipe frosting on to spell words etc., it is best to allow the cookie to dry for a few minutes before adding the next layer of frosting.

After frosting the cookie with desired frosting, add appropriate decorations.  These can be coconut, red hots, hearts with phrases on them, colored sugars or sprinkles. M&M's in the Valentine's colors of pink, red and white are another option.  Melt a few chocolate chips and drizzle chocolate over the cookies.  Another idea is to put the frosting in a cake decorating piping bag and write phrases on the cookies like the heart candy or the names of people you are giving them to.

How to Make Cut Out Cookies