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Valentine Heart Envelope Cookies

~ lindy

Valentine Envelope Sugar Cookies

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This is one of our favorite sugar cookie recipes. I’ve made them when I was in high school, it’s easy to work with and very flavorful cookie.  These egg cookies would be fun for a Valentine party.

You will need a Rectangular Cookie Cutter for uniform rectangular shapes

Soft Honey Sugar Cookies
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*3/4 cup Butter or Shortening
*1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
*3 tablespoons Honey
*1 cup Whipping Cream or Canned Milk or (1/2 cup Sour Cream And 1/2 Cup Milk)
*1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
*1 teaspoon Salt
*4 cups All-purpose Flour
*4 teaspoons Baking Powder
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Pre-heat oven 350*F.
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Cream together in stand mixer: Butter, sugar, honey, cream, vanilla and salt.
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Sift together in bowl: Flour and baking powder.
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Combine in stand mixer and mix well and (scrapping down the sides of the bowl occasionally) forms a soft dough ball.

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Hint: Refrigeration of the dough will always make the cookies roll, cut and cook a little better; also using a cooled baking sheet with each batch of cookies helps too!
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Roll out cookie dough using half the dough at a time, so not to over working the dough and cut cookies with a round cookie cutter or cookie cutter of your choice.
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Place cookies on a Silpat covered half baking sheet or cookie sheet of your choice sprayed with cooking spray or covered with parchment paper.
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Bake for 8-10 minutes or when edges barely start to turn brown. Also depends on the size of cookie.
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Hint: I’ve always usually mix my cookies by hand but my daughter is a pastry chef and mixes everything in stand mixer but either way works great!

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Basic Royal Icing

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*1 pound Powdered Sugar (around 4 cups)

*3 tablespoons Meringue Powder

*1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract

*6 tablespoons Water, add gradually for consistency for piping, more or less as needed

Coloring:

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Add  small amounts of coloring at a time until desired color of icing.

*Paste Food Coloring, Wilton  Red for hearts

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Supplies:

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*New Pastry Bags, clip off very tip for piping (can use pastry tips if desired but not necessary)

*Moist Flour Sack Towel, for cover icing in bowl to keep icing from drying out

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Mix together the icing ingredients on medium speed in a stand mixer (with grease free bowl) and use a grease free whisk attachment beat about 7 minutes or until it makes peaks (it will be thick). Divide icing into different bowls if making different colors, add food paste/coloring stir until coloring is incorporated. Then thin icing as needed for piping icing on cookies. Let icing rest to allow bubbles to pop. (If you do get bubbles in your iced cookies pop with a tooth pick before they set.) Then fill the piping bags 1/2 full.

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Note 1 : When filling bags you might need 2 bags one with thick piping icing for lining and a second bag with thinner icing of the same color for flooding/piping the center.

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Pipe around each cookie close to edge with a slightly thick icing making sure it flows well out of piping bag but doesn’t run. (If you don,t like the piped edge line look, then fill the piped lined cookie after about every 5 cookies with a thinner icing to filling/flooding the center of the cookies, this helps with line not to show. (We didn’t mind the line look around the edge to show, so we piped a single piping around ALL the cookies and then filled/flooded ALL of the cookies with the slightly thinner frosting using another bag with thinner icing constancy.)

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Note 2 : For thickening the icing add powder sugar or for thinning, add small drops or teaspoons of water until constancy needed.

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Piping Hearts on Envelopes

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Allow the white piped envelope cookies to dry 2 hours or we let them set over night and then pipe red heart shape of icing in the size desired.  Then fill/flood with red icing.

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After making these cookies many times with this type of icing it just takes practice to get the icing the way you like. Most of all just have fun making them😊

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See Bunny Tail Sugar Cookies also See JuJu Heart Valentine Cookies

Enjoy!

Lindy

 

 

 

Crumb Red Velvet Cupcakes

~ lindy

Crumb Red Velvet Cupcakes - Gardenseedsandhoneybees

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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Makes 24 Cupcakes

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Ingredients:

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*2    1/2 cups sifted Cake Flour

*1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa

*1 teaspoon Baking Soda

*1 teaspoon Sea Salt

*3/4 cup Extra Light Olive Oil

*2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

*2 tablespoons Red Velvet Bakery Emulsion

*3/4 cup Butter, unsalted if desired, room temperature

*1     1/4 cups Sugar

*4 Eggs, room temperature

*2 Egg Yolks, room temperature

*1 cup Buttermilk, room temperature

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Pre-heat the oven 350*F.

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In a medium bowl sift together the dry ingredients; Flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Then whisk together all the dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed.

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In another small bowl combine the oil, vanilla and red velvet emulsion.

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Now in a stand mixer on medium-high speed with bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper along with the paddle. Then slowly drizzle in the oil mixture on low-speed until combined. Add the eggs and egg yolks one at a time and beat on medium speed until fluffy again.

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Then slowly add the dry ingredients in 3 increments alternating with the buttermilk, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Turn off mixer as soon as the flour and buttermilk are not visible and stir and fold cake batter by hand to insure you don’t over beat.

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Scoop the batter into cupcake lined muffin tins and bake on the middle rake in the center of the oven and bake for 22-24 minutes until cupcake springs back when touched or toothpick comes out clean. Cool on cooling racks.

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Note: If making the mini cupcakes, bake at 350*F., in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Makes about 98 mini cupcakes.

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Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

Red Velvet Cake recipe and Marscapone frosting adapted from Vintage Cakes Julie Richards Book sold on Amazon

**Frost with Marscapone Cream Cheese Frosting or Greek cream cheese frosting.  Keep frosted cups in the refrigerator.  Will keep in the fridge 2 days.

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Marscapone Cream Cheese Frosting

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*8 ounces Cream Cheese, room temperature

*8 ounces Marscapone, cold

*1/2 cup Heavy Cream, cold

*1/3 cup Granulated Sugar

*Pinch of Sea Salt

*4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract, clear

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In a stand mixer with bowl, on medium-low speed, add the cream cheese and cream until smooth. Then add the Marscapone, heavy cream sugar and salt. Beat on low speed until thick and creamy and add vanilla. Pipe or frost cupcakes.

Greek Cream Cheese Frosting

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*4 ounce (1/2 Package) Greek Cream Cheese

*1/3 Cup Butter, room temperature

*2 tablespoons Whipping Cream or Milk

*1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, clear if desired

*pinch of Salt

*4 cups Powder Sugar, more or less

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Mix together in a stand mixer the above ingredients except the powder sugar until creamed together and then slowly add powder sugar until desired consistency.

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Frost or pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with crumbled cupcake for topping if desired.

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***Note: If you don’t frost the cupcakes right away or frost them the next day after making frosting, you will have to beat the frosting again.
Crumb Red Velvet Cupcakes

Crumb Red Velvet CupcakesCrumb Red Velvet CupcakesCrumb Red Velvet Cupcakes

Also see our Tea Party Food

I Frosted the below pictures the day before I took these pictures and refrigerated them and they turn a little red around the edges.  The above pictures are the ones we served at our tea party.  So, if you frost them the night before they will turn red around the edges.  It could be a benefit if you like the red edge affect.

Crumb Red Velvet Cupcakes - Gardenseedsandhoneybees

Enjoy!

Jessica and Lindy