Valentine Shortbread Cookies and Magical Icing

Wow! Can you believe it has been over a YEAR since I last posted?!?! I have been a very bad blogger this year. Well, you know how it is. Life happens. Mother Maxine, also known as my dear sweet mother, has been hounding me to post on my blog. The truth is I haven't been baking a whole lot in the last year. But, I will try better this year to post things when I do cook.

Now on to the sweets!

I have been searching for many, many years for a perfect iced cookie. I think I've mentioned before that I really do not enjoy icing cookies. Part of that is that I have never landed on a recipe that really worked. Either the cookies spread to much or the icing dripped all over. Usually I just made a mess and threw the whole thing out. Well, I finally found that perfect recipe.These absolutely melt in your mouth. The whole cup of cornstarch gives it this effect so don't skip it! I found this recipe over at Sweetopia. She is the master of all things coated in Royal icing.She has some really awesome tips on decorating iced cookies that I found really helpful.

 Don't let the process scare you away. There does seem to be a lot of steps (cool the dough, roll the dough, cool the dough, etc), but it is absolutely worth every minute!
Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day!!
Enjoy!!

Valentine Shortbread Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Sweetopia

1 lb. (454 gr) butter, room temperature
1 cup (5 oz. or 142 g) icing sugar
(confectioner’s or powdered sugar)
1 cup (5 oz. or 142 g) cornstarch
3 cups (15 oz. or 425 g) flour
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure almond extract

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle
attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter* on medium
speed for about 30 seconds. You may need to scrape down
the sides of your bowl with a spatula at least once.
2. In a separate bowl, sift your icing sugar, cornstarch and
flour together.
3. Add your sifted ingredients to the bowl with the butter, and
mix on low speed, just until all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment
paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a
minimum of one hour.

5.Cut cold dough with cookie cutters. Remove scraps, reroll and repeat.
6. Place cookie dough shapes back in the fridge to chill for
approximately one hour.
7. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes until bottoms are just browned.
Cool and ice.

Magical Royal Icing
recipe courtesy of Sweetopia
6 oz (3/4 cup) of warm water
5 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure almond extract
*** Note; if your meringue powder has no vanilla flavor (vanillin powder) in it, add a teaspoon of clear vanilla to this recipe.
 Directions:
In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds.
Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.
Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.
Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.
Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.