A Sweet Valentine's Treat

This weekend, I made some Valentine’s Day cookies for a church fundraiser and to bring to work. Instead of using my mom’s sugar cookie recipe (which is always reliable), I decided to try a new recipe that I had saved from Better Homes & Gardens (February 2010 issue).

Lemon Butter Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter and zest at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy (I don’t have a stand mixer, so I just used my hand mixer). Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well.

Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Shape dough into a disc.

Roll dough to 1/8" thickness on a lightly surface. (Or, in my case, a heavily floured surface—I hate it when the dough sticks!) Cut with a 2 1/4" or 3 1/4" heart-shaped cutter; place 1/2" apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets (I just used my trusty baking stone).

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. (For some reason, mine took quite a bit longer than this.) Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks. Cool for 20 minutes before decorating.

And the taste test results? Delicious! I’m not usually a big fan of lemon, but the lemon flavor in these is very subtle. The texture is light, flaky, and crispy (which means it’s easy to eat a lot of them). They’re tasty just plain, but I also glazed about half of them with Sugar Cookie Icing (via AllRecipes), which dries nice and shiny and hard.

My decorating skills leave a little to be desired, but luckily that doesn’t detract from the yum factor. Plus, the recipe is super easy and uses very basic ingredients. I think it made about 30-35 small- and medium-sized cookies (which unfortunately doesn’t last long). I’d definitely make them again!

Did you bake any fun sweets for Valentine’s Day?