Valentine's Day!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! I love it so much... it's a "sweet" holiday to look forward to in the middle of the winter, and since I have a love affair with chocolate, it's the perfect holiday for me. It's a no fuss holiday,  not much wrapping involved or the stress of cooking for a crowd. Just plain enjoyment, a nice meal and a wonderful dessert.

I remember when I was pregnant with my 3rd baby, (she was due in March on St. Patty's Day), I was a crazy baker and was making a ton of iced heart shaped chewy sugar cookies. I was so tired, but at night I'd sit in the kitchen and decorate these cookies for Valentine's day. I must have worn myself out, she was then born on Feb. 19th-- Madison Rose, my little late valentine's day gift, and she stole my heart right away. She was and still is a beauty!

Much to my family's dismay, I am not doing the iced heart sugar cookies this year.. I am doing  shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate and going to dip some chocolate covered strawberry's.  Shortbread is crisp and buttery, and really delicious. This recipe is easy( much less time consuming than the iced sugar cookie!) The dough is so easy to roll and cut out. Just please take my advise... to keep the heart shape of the cookie you must cut them out and then return them to the refrigerator  for 15 minutes before placing them in the oven. Or else, you are  not  going to have a heart you will have a blob!

Enjoy your Valentine's day with all your hunnies!

xoxo

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies


Joy of baking

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter room temperature

1/2 cup  powdered confectioners  sugar

1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

For Chocolate Dipped Shortbread's:

6 ounces  semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Shortbread's: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.  Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

cut them out and return them to refrigerator before baking

For Chocolate Dipped Shortbread's: Place 3 ounces of the finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat. Add the remaining chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon until it has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Taking one cookie at a time, dip one end of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once all the cookies have been dipped in the chocolate,

xoxoxo