Gourmet Cookie Bouquets Recipe Blog

Posts Tagged ‘valentine cookies’

What could be better than warm chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven? Unless it’s a piece of delicious cake. Oh, the choices! Now you can combine your favorite desserts into a cookie cake. Yes, this could just be the perfect dessert. Next time you’re sweet tooth is calling, answer with these recipes.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake comes to us from Cooks.com. Judging from the reviews, we’re surprised the cake ever makes it out of the kitchen for guests. You’ll need:

• ½ cup butter

• ¼ brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• ½ cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 cup flour

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• Chocolate chips

• ½ chopped nuts (optional)

Prepare by preheating your oven to 375° and greasing an 8 or 9 inch round pizza pan or cookie sheet.

To make, cream the butter, brown and white sugars, vanilla, and egg together with a spoon. When this is creamy, add your dry ingredients. Blend this thoroughly to mix in the dry ingredients, and then add the chocolate chips and nuts, if you choose.

Spread the cookie dough onto your greased pan and bake for 10 minutes. Take it out, let it cool, and be prepared to receive compliments.

For an extra touch, place mini Hershey’s Kisses on top of the cookie cake (or chocolate chunks) and drizzle with chocolate or shape it like a heart for a Valentine's day cookie gift. At a bakery, this would cost over $40. You can make it at home for the same price as a batch of cookies.

When you are at a loss at what to prepare for a dinner party or gathering, you must ask yourself, “What would Martha do?” Martha would whip up a five layer cookie cake for 16 people, is what she would do. In fact, she has, and this recipe comes from Martha Stewart herself. It is a little more involved than the previous recipe, but it will not fail to impress.

You will need:

• 4 cups flour

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

• 1 ½ teaspoons salt

• 6 tablespoons of butter, softened

• 1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar

• ¾ cup granulated sugar

• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs, and 2 egg yolks

• ¾ cup heavy cream

• 3 cups chocolate chips (Martha says semi-sweet)

• 5 – yes 5 – packages of cream cheese, room temperature

• ½ confectioner’s sugar

Prepare by preheating your oven to 350°. Next, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, or a mixer, mix butter and brown and granulated sugars. When this is pale and “fluffy,” mix in the vanilla, eggs, and yolks. Continue mixing. Add half the flour, and then half the cream. Mix, and then add the other half of the flour and the other half of the cream. Stir in the chocolate chips.

You are making 5 layers for the cake. You want one level cup of dough for each layer. Drop it onto a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Put the other dough in the refrigerator while you’re working to keep it cool. Spread the dough into an 8 inch circle on the baking sheet (Martha actually traces an 8 inch circle onto the paper; you don’t have to, but you do want your layers to be as close to even as possible).

Bake this until the edges are pale golden, which takes about 12 minutes. Take it out and reshape your circle with a spatula. Put it back in the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat this for the other layers. If you have oven space and cookie sheets, you can do more than one of these cookie layers at a time.

As they’re cooling, mix the cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar until fluffy. Spread this mixture onto four of the cookies. Stack them, with the unfrosted cookie on top. Put the cake in the refrigerator until the frosting sets. This takes at least 20 minutes.

It is more work, but the results are fantastic.

Whether you use a recipe that is simple or one that is more elaborate, you cannot go wrong with cookie cake made from your own cookie dough.

Here's another fun and delicious way to make cookies for Valentine's Day!  The center each heart shaped cookie is a sparkling red heart-shaped "window".   This amazing cookie is easy to make and the results are breath-taking.

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/3 cup crushed clear red hard candy (Life Savers or Jolly Ranchers)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a 4-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter dipped in flour. Cut out centers with a 1-1/4-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter; set aside to re-roll. Place cookies 1 in. apart on lightly greased foil-lined baking sheets. Fill centers with crushed candy.

Bake at 375  for 7-9 minutes or until candy is melted and edges of cookies begin to brown. Cool completely on baking sheets. Carefully peel cookies off foil.

Want more Valentine's Day recipes? Try these Valentine Food Gift Ideas.

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.

Valentine's Day is approaching fast!  We've just unveiled 2 new fun and delicious Valentine's Day cookie bouquets for your sweetheart!

Our gourmet cookie bouquets are created from delicious butter creme cookies, baked fresh daily and professionally hand-decorated. Cookies are approximately 4-5" tall, depending on shape.  Each bouquet is artfully arranged and carefully packaged for shipment to insure it arrives safely.

Our first new design really packs a punch!  Let your Valentine know you think they're a real knockout!  We've decorated cookies shaped like boxing gloves, boxer shorts and heart for a unique and unforgettable gift!  Perfect for the hard-to-buy-for man in your life!

The next new bouquet is our "Sending My Love" cookie bouquet.  Sweetly decorated mailboxes, lips, hearts and an envelope sealed with a kiss make up this fun bouquet.  Whether your Valentine is near or far, go straight to their heart (or stomach!) with a delicious cookie bouquet!

Prices start at $29.95 and we ship them straight to their door!

Want to make more Valentine's Day cookies? Try this recipe for Stained Glass Heart Cookies.