Love, Sweet Love

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my lovelies!

(And to you too!)

Ciao!

Valentine’s Day Butter Hearts

Note: It’s difficult to pin down the yield of these cookies as they can make anywhere from 3 or 4 dozen cookies to 5 or 6 dozen depending on the size of the cookie cutter. Either way, you’ll get a lot of cookies!

1 cup, unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar (If you have vanilla sugar, use 1/4 cup vanilla sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar)
1 large egg yolk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until very light (about 3 minutes).

Add the egg yolk, the vanilla and the salt and beat for another minute.

Add the flower and combine on low speed until the flower is incorporated and you have a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto the counter and gather into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. With the cookie cutter of your choice, cut out as many cookies as you can, rerolling the scraps and making more cookies.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake from 6 to 10 minutes depending on the size of your cookie. Small cookies like the hearts above will take about 8 minutes.

Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!