Well, as far as Valentine's Day plans go, ours were a total bust. Our Valentine tradition (this is only our 2nd Valentine's Day together) is for Justin to cook dinner for the two of us at home. We eat out a lot, so this is a nice treat and I love getting to kick up my heels and hand over the reigns in the kitchen. Justin is such a good cook, that I'm thinking I might start scheduling us a Valentine's dinner once a month. How's that for hallmark holiday?
Work was more demanding than either of us anticipated, so a little before 10pm we strolled into one of the local mexican restaurants and the hostess escorted us to a table that had children crawling everywhere. I kindly told her that we would not be sitting there and so we were taken to another section where the waitress misunderstood my english and brought me the wrong order.
Oh well. I'm thinking we have a few more Valentine's Day celebrations in us, so better luck next year.
The cookies? They were my valentine's gift to my employees and while it took me about 3 days to make they were not a total bust.
Classic Iced Sugar Cookies from cooking light magazine
Yield: 3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)
Ingredients
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation
To prepare cookies, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and egg whites. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape each dough half into a ball; wrap each dough half in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.
Unwrap 1 dough ball. Press dough into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap. Cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, to a 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat procedure with remaining dough ball. Chill dough 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Remove one dough portion from refrigerator. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap; turn dough over. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Using a 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut dough into 18 cookies. Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining dough half.
To prepare icing, combine powdered sugar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Working with 1 cookie at a time, spread about 1 teaspoon icing evenly over cookie. Let stand on a wire rack until set.
Nutritional Information
Calories: 109 (27% from fat)
Fat: 3.3g (sat 2g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.2g)
Protein: 1.2g
Carbohydrate: 19g
Fiber: 0.2g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Iron: 0.4mg
Sodium: 50mg
Calcium: 8mg
