HAPPY HEARTS

I made these beautiful little watercolor heart cookies to celebrate a second round of heart surgery for the love of my life. Sometimes life happens and you need to stop and take measure of what is important. I get it, everyday and everyone is not taken lightly. Thankful for what I have, family, friends and Matt. Thankful for education and technology. Baking cookies is a tiny way of sharing my heart with others. It is me saying 'I love you'. Small things, tiny details are meaningful. Remember that. 

 This is what you will need-

Shortbread Cookies

Frosting

Small Paintbrushes

Paint Wells/Small Containers

Food Gel/Coloring

White Vanilla Flavoring or Vodka

Tiny Silver Heart Sprinkles

Shortbread Cookie-

1 C + 3 Tbs. Butter

1 C Powdered Sugar

2 Tsp Vanilla Flavoring

2 ½ C Flour

 

Frosting-

Piping

2 ½ C Powdered Sugar

1 Egg White

1 Tbs Vanilla Flavoring

1 Tbs French Vanilla Non-Dairy Creamer (liquid)

 

Flooding

3 C Powdered Sugar

2 Egg Whites

1 ½ Tbs Vanilla

2 Tbs French Vanilla Non-Dairy Creamer

A baker's note on clear vanilla flavoring. I have purchase it from Michael's Crafts and Amazon. It is not real vanilla, but the advantage is it is clear, so when you need to add color to frosting it will not affect the color and it does taste like vanilla. However, it does require a longer drying time. Vodka on the other hand is clear and does not affect the flavor to the frosting. The advantage is it dries quickly. You choose.

Make cookie dough. Refrigerate 1-2 hours. Roll dough out on a floured surface ¼” thick. Cut out with heart cookie cutter. Bake 12-14 minutes in a preheated 350-degree F oven or just until the edges start to turn light brown. Let cool.

To pipe cookies, fill a pastry bag fitted with a #3 tip, and outline outside edge of heart with frosting. Let set about one hour. Save remaining piping in the refrigerator to be used later.

To flood cookie, fill a squeeze bottle with flooding frosting. Start by running the tip of the bottle around the outline. Try to get the flooding as close as possible to the outline. Nudge the flooding to just slightly cover the outline, but do not let the flooding to spill over the edge. Fill in remaining open space. 

Use a toothpick to remove any air bubbles that form on the surface. Let dry overnight.

With a toothpick, coat the tip with the gel food coloring. brush it off into one of the wells. Fill one well or a small container with the clear vanilla or vodka. Dip your paintbrush into the gel and dilute with the vanilla/vodka.

Paint away. your cookie is your canvas. I chose to use one color for my cookies. I started with the lightest amount of color. Let the first coat dry for an hour. 

I applied the same color, only a bit darker, less diluted. I was going for a soft impressionist look, so I used small blotches and tiny bits of color. If you apply too much color you can wipe it off with a paper towel. Let dry.

Apply a light coat of vanilla/vodka to the surface of your cookie where you are planning to accent with the tiny heart sprinkles.

Sprinkle the tiny hearts over the surface. Tap excess sprinkles off cookie. 

Remove the leftover piping from the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature. I added two teaspoons of powdered sugar to the piping to stiffen it up so the lettering would not run and spread out. Use a #2 tip and finish with "love" in script.

 

Happy Hearts...