Gourmet Cookie Bouquets Recipe Blog

Here's another great recipe to whip up this Valentine's Day!  Heart cut-outs show the raspberry filling for a fun and sweet Valentine's Day cookies!

I like raspberry best for my filling, but you can try other preserves like strawberry, cherry, etc.

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 3/4 cup butter softened
* 1 cup seedless raspberry preserves
* 1/3 cup powdered sugar

*3 or 4 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter & 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter

DIRECTIONS:
1.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Next with a pastry blender or two knives used scissor-fashion, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 4 to 5 tablespoons cold water ( 1 tablespoon at time) into the flour mixture, mixing lightly with a fork after each addition until dough is just moist enough to hold together. Shape dough into a ball then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll one-third of the dough at a time 1/8 inch thick, keeping the remaining dough refrigerated. With a floured 3 or 4 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into as many hearts as possible. Place the hearts 1/2 inches apart  on an ungreased large cookie sheet. Keep the trimmings. With a floured 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out centers from half of hearts. Remove cutout centers, and bake along with larger cookies, checking after 7 minutes for doneness.

3. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Move cookies to wire racks to cool. Combine remaining dough and trimmings together to make more cookies.

4. When cookies are cool, sprinkle cookies with cutout centers with powdered sugar. Spread each cookie without cutout center with 1 rounded teaspoon raspberry preserves; top each with a center cut-out cookie, gently pressing cookies together to form a sandwich. Store in tightly covered container.

Looking for more Valentine's Day cookie ideas? Try these new Valentine Cookie Bouquets.