Valentine’s Day Cookies (Heart-Glazed Cornmeal Sugar Cookies)

In the spirit of said corporate faux holiday, I decided to bake in celebration of the pink and the hearts and all that other crap that Valentine’s Day is all about. I like things with cornmeal (i.e., cornbread, …can’t think of anything else) so I thought a sugar cookie using cornmeal would be a fun and different spin on your everyday sugar cookie. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, of course.

Pre-Oven

After shaping the cookie dough into 1″ balls and rolling them in sugar, I used the bottom of a small dish to flatten them into 1.5″ discs.  Jamie bought me a set of heart-shaped cookie cutters from a garage sale a few months ago, and I used the smallest one to cut partway through the cookie discs.

Post-Oven – Hearts Have Separated!

As the cookies baked in the oven, the shape took a more defined form as the dough rose.  I then glazed the hearts using the back of a spoon and a glaze made of powdered sugar, a wee bit of water and vanilla, and couple drops of food coloring.

Just Glaze

So what did I do with all of these cookies?  I ended up sending them to some Valentines that I declared my own, and some as thank you gifts to Leslie, Tri, and Annie for being their ridiculously awesome selves. The rest went to work with me on the actual day right before I left for Indianapolis and Grand Rapids on a whirlwind of a trip.  I spent my V-Day evening aboard two planes to Indy, closing the night with the elliptical in the hotel fitness center.

Valentine’s Day Cookies (Heart-Glazed Cornmeal Sugar Cookies)

2.5 days and six planes later (there were NO direct flights), I’m happy to say I survived the snow and icy roads of the Midwest.  I had asked work to reserve a car with 4-wheel drive, since both states were forecasted to receive snow during my stay. My flights to both destinations got in pretty late at night, so all of the economy SUVs were taken by the time I arrived at the Enterprise counter.  They graciously upgraded me to a Lincoln Navigator in Indy.  While I always insist that I’m of near-average height, I concede that I was way too short for this car.  I had to sit on one of my legs to see over the steering wheel because there were no booster seats included with the car.

Oh! I also made some Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies using dark chocolate Dove hearts (instead of the typical Hershey’s Kisses) because everyone is supposed to have chocolates or something classy on V-Day, right?

Happy Valentine’s Day 2012!

The hell if I know. Until next year, Cupid!