Sweetness shares their easy cookie recipe, perfect for Valentine's.

With Valentine's Day tomorrow, it's time to scramble re: any last minute preparations. If you haven't gotten started on sweet litte somethings for your friends and coworkers, you have a few choices. You can rush to the closest market and grab a box of whatever you can find, or you can go home and bake something all your own. We like the sound of the latter. Call us old-fashioned but we think there's something endearing about creating something for those you care about. So we asked the folks at famed local bakery (and those two Sugar Rush food trucks!) Sweetness to share a simple recipe. These forward thinkers have created goodies such as red velvet cake shakes, brookies (a fudge brownie with a chocolate chip cookie baked inside), and lemon meringue doughnuts. Now, they've shared an easy, do-it-yourself cookie recipe perfect for creating an edible token of affection. But if you're feeling inspired you can always try your hand at something slightly more complicated but just as sweet. Everyone loves red velvet cake, right?

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Sweetness Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated cane sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk or buttermilk

Directions:

1. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, & salt)
2. Place softened butter and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy, smooth, and no granulation visible
3. Add the lightly beaten egg, vanilla extract, and milk and beat till combined
4. On low speed, slowly incorporate dry ingredients, continue beating until mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl
5. Divide the dough in two equal parts, wrap in shrink wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
6. Once dough is ready, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
7. Sprinkle your work surface and rolling pin with flour. Remove one of the packs of dough from the refrigerator and roll out your dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes, and place at least 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet, parchment, or baking mat.
8. Place cutout cookies back in refrigerator for 5-10 minutes so they chill, chilling cut out shapes before baking will keep them from spreading & distorting the shape.
9. Sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown
10. Once cookies are out of the oven, let sit on baking sheet for approximately 2 minutes, then move to cooling rack. Cookies can be served as is or decorated as desired. Can be stored in airtight container for up to 1 week.

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Cookie Icing

Ingredients:

1 cup sifted confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1-3 tablespoons milk
food coloring (optional)
1/4 tsp flavor extract (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine confectioners sugar, corn syrup, and optional flavor extract & food coloring in a bowl
2. Add your milk a tablespoon at a time until your icing is runny enough to pour over the cookies, but not so runny that your cookies will absorb the icing
3. Pour the cookie icing over the baked cookies and spread with knife or offset spatula till cookies are completely covered, decorate with sprinkles, candy, or anything that comes to mind!

Photo: Courtesy of Sweetness

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