Baking with Kids: Valentine's Cookies

This afternoon Max and I hit the kitchen to make some sugar cookies. We ended up with two versions: Sugar Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella and Sugar Cookies with Blood Orange Frosting. Both are equally delicious, but as a fan of all things Nutella, I think I'll be sneaking a few of those tonight after Max heads off to bed. 

Here's Max learning how to roll out the dough. 

Sugar Cookie Mix 

(we used the Better Homes and Gardens recipe)

ingredients:

• 2/3
  cup butter, softened
• 3/4
  cup sugar
• 1
  teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4
  teaspoon salt
• 1
  egg
• 1
  tablespoon milk
• 1
  teaspoon vanilla
• 2
  cups all-purpose flour
  
  

get to work:

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium for about 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla until combined. Stir in flour. Divide dough in half and cover for about 30 min. in the refrigerator. 

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. 

3. Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. 

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches with Nutella 

Follow the instructions above, using a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out about 10 cookies. Bake and cool. Once the cookies have cooled, spread Nutella on one side of the cookie and place another  cookie on top. Be sure not to over bake the cookies, these sandwiches are best with soft, chewy cookies. 

Blood Orange Frosting

1 cup of powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon blood orange juice

In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, vanilla and juice. Stir in extra juice if necessary, 1 teaspoon at a time if necessary. 

 When he wasn't busy rolling out the dough, he was busy sneaking pieces of it. 

We squeezed the oranges ourselves so that the juice was nice and fresh. If you don't have one of these at home, I highly recommend you get one! They're cheap and kids love to play with them. 

While we waited for the cookies to bake we took the left over dough and made shapes, Max made a worm and then casually tried to eat it. Nice try buddy!