Valentine’s day. A holiday dedicated to true love, corporate consumerism and opportunities to indulge in sugary snacks. No matter how you feel about the love fest celebration, Valentine’s day is a great excuse to buy heart-shaped candies and participate in fun baking activities. As cookies have proven to be a path to everyone’s heart, The VanCougar presents two sweetheart cookie recipes that you are sure to fall in love with this February.
Ginger Sugar Cookies
Ginger Sugar Cookies are great for adding a little bit of spice into your valentine sweets. For this recipe, the ingredients needed are 1/2 stick of butter, 1 ½ cups of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 cups of flour and 2 to 3 minced preserved ginger stems. After gathering all the ingredients, set your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is preheating, combine the butter and sugar into a large bowl and mix until it is light and fluffy. After these ingredients are blended, continue mixing in vanilla extract, baking soda and flour. Finally, add minced ginger and stir thoroughly. Once your dough is prepared, add a bit more flour and work it into the dough so it sticks together while being flattened. Lay your dough on a lightly floured work surface and begin rolling the dough until it’s about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut out your shapes with heart-shaped cookie cutters, and place the cookies gently onto prepared baking sheets. Lastly, bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges.
Red and Pink Cake Cookies
These fresh, flavorful, bakery-style cookies are a perfect fix for anyone’s sweet tooth. While using cake mix within the recipe, The VanCougar recommends refraining from using water in the batter and one less egg than what the box recipe calls for. For these cookies, you will need a 15.25-ounce box of either strawberry or red velvet cake mix, ½ cup of vegetable oil and 2 eggs. Mix all the ingredients, then let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Once the dough is firm, start rolling the dough into small portions between your hands in a circular motion. Sizing is optional, but if the cookies are larger, the cooking time will be longer. Place the dough on the baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees F and bake for 9-11 minutes.
When decorating, we recommend using white frosting, red food coloring, red strawberry flavored writing gel, white chocolate chips and sprinkles for an extra flair to make your cookies truly spectacular.
We hope you enjoy these lovely recipes and wish all VanCougs a happy Valentine’s Day!