Lovey Dovey Sugar Cookies

Cookies are my absolute favorite dessert, and these cookies have a special place in my heart.  It is time for a throwback recipe!  Think back to elementary school, in the lunch room, and on your birthday.  Oh yea!  The time when your mom would send you with birthday treats to your class.  I really hope people still do this, because it was always super fun.  My birthday falls near Valentines day, so my mom used to make these lovely heart cookies for me to celebrate with my friends.  One year my mom made them for me when I was in college, and they were a hit with my sweet circle of friends.  I wanted to dedicate this blogpost to one of those dear girls who recently got engaged.  That's right, Rayn or Shine.  These are for you!

Lovey Dovey Sugar Cookies

These cookies are so easy and beautiful.  Another bonus is they only require a few ingredients: sugar cookie dough (I used Pillsbury), white icing, red food coloring, and confectioners sugar.  You can go all out and make homemade dough, but Mom always made them the easy way.  

Take one log of sugar cookie dough and roll it out into 24 balls.  Place the balls a few inches away from the one next to it so they will make nice round cookies.  I had to use two cookie sheets.

Icing!!  I never liked strawberry icing when I was little, so Mom would get the vanilla icing and mix in a dab of red food coloring to make pink icing.

A dab will do you!

Stir the icing together until thoroughly mixed and pink to perfection.  Somewhere between blush and bashful :)

Once your cookies are baked, take them out of the oven, and place them on a cooling rack

I found these decorative cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma when we were going through the wedding registry process, and I love them.  They are perfect for baking and have so many shapes that can be used for several different holidays.

Pick out the heart shaped cutter.  If you need a small heart shaped cookie cutter, they usually have them at your local grocery store or bed bath and beyond.

Place the heart in the center of your cookie and start punching those hearts out.

Don't get carried away though, because you only need hearts cut on half of your cookies.  A plain cookie will be your base and the the heart cookie will be the topper.

Another great thing about these cookies is you get a little heart shaped snack halfway through.

Remember your icing?  Slather it on each of your cookie bases.

Cover your iced cookies with a heart cookie.  Look how precious these are.  But wait! We are not done.

Grab a sifter or a wire mesh sieve, and dust those babies with powdered sugar

Showstopper!  I know you will enjoy this little treats.  They hold a special place in my heart, and I hope you can make these for some people you care about.

And to my special friend I have dedicated this blogpost to, Raynor, congratulations on your engagement.  You are such a beautiful person, and I cherish our memories that we have shared.  Thank you for your friendship.  I am a better person for knowing you.  Love ya, mean it!