Iracebeth may claim, "It is far better to be feared, than loved," but best not believe everything that comes out of the Red Queen's mouth. Inspired by her rosy heart-shaped lips, these sweet cookie kisses make an endearing offering on Valentine's Day.
by Cindy Littlefield
What you'll need
- Batch of chilled sugar cookie dough (homemade or store-bought) *
- Rolling pin
- Flour
- Wax paper
- Round cookie cutter (about 1.75 inches wide)
- Baking sheets
- Cooling rack
- Red taffy-like candy (such as AirHeads) **
- Small heart fondant cutter (about 3/4 inch wide)
- White cookie icing (the kind that hardens)
- Kitchen knife
- Edible black food marker
Helpful Tip:
If the store-bought brand of dough you use is too soft to hold the cookie shapes while baking, you can knead in a little extra flour to stiffen it before rolling it out. ** You can substitute red fondant for the candy, if you like.
How to make it
- Heat the oven. Working on a flour-dusted sheet of wax paper, roll out the chilled dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use the cookie cutter to cut circles out of the dough. Bake the cookies according to the recipe directions and then let them cool completely.
- Use the rolling pin to flatten a red taffy-like candy to about 3/8-inch thickness. Then use the small fondant cutter to cut out a heart-shape mouth for each cookie. Note: If the candy is too stiff to cut, try softening it in the microwave for 4 or 5 seconds.
- Working with one cookie at a time, frost the top with white icing. Then press a candy heart into the icing in the center of the circle.
- Set the cookies aside until the icing hardens (four hours or more).
- Use the edible black food marker to draw a thin mouth line across the center of each heart, extending the ends onto the icing and curving them downward into a slight frown.
