Be My Valentine: Cookie Surprise!
We made these fun window pane Valentine Cookie Surprises this week. The girls had a blast cutting out the cookie shapes and adding the hard candy to make window panes! They taste pretty yummy too with the variety of flavors and textures. The cookie dough is your basic sugar cookie mix. We added the hard candies in the middle to make the cookies extra special. It was a wonderful baking adventure with our girls and their friends who were spending time over at our house. After having 5 young girls cooking in the kitchen it was a mess but they were so proud of their creations and goodies that it was worth the extra clean up time!
Sugar Cookies
- 1/3 cup Butter or Margarine
- 1/3 cup Shortening
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 20 to 40 Hard Candies (We used a variety of Lifesavers, Root Beer Float Hard Candies & Candy Canes*)
1. Beat butter and shortening on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and a dash of salt. Beat till combined, scraping the bowl so everything is well blended. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add the flour into the mixture.
2. Cover and chill dough for 1 to 3 hours to make it easier to handle when making cookies or cutouts.
3. Lay down wax paper and lightly flour. Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Use a variety of cookie cutters to make the shapes you want. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
4. Cut out a heart shape in the middle of the cookies. Fill the hole with a crushed hard candy. The candy will melt during baking creating the glass window pane hearts in the middle of the cookies. *We tried using up extra candy canes but they didn’t melt well (they tasted good) but I would stick to the one color hard candies like life savers!
5. Bake at 375° for 7 to 9 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm and light brown. Cool until the middle window are set then transfer to a platter.
