Sweets for Your Sweets

Valentine's day is just around the corner, which means it's time to treat your sweet tooth! I love baking for Valentine's day! In past years, I've made everything from cupcakes, to caramel popcorn with pink and red M&Ms, but this year I decided to take a more traditional route with a unique twist. When I found the most adorable set of heart shaped cookie cutters- one with scalloped edges and one with smooth edges- I knew that this year, I was going to bake sugar cookies! I then started brainstorming some ideas on how I could decorate them, and this is where the fun began...
I started by mixing the frosting. To make it, I combined 1 cup of confectioners sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a splash of milk. I then gradually added Karo corn syrup to the mixture until I reached the desired consistency. Once I got the smoothness I wanted, I divided the mixture into two smaller bowls. In one bowl I add one single drop of red food coloring to get an adorable light pink color, and in the second bowl I added a few more drops to make a deeper reddish pink.
For each cookie, I spread one color over the entire surface. Then I grabbed a toothpick and swiped a good size dollop of the second color onto the end of it. To get a marbled effect, I simply swirled the toothpick around the frosting on the cookie. It is so easy and looks so pretty when dry!
I alternated between the base and the swirl colors to add a variety of color to the plate of cookies. I also decorated a few cookies with sparkly red sprinkles, and opted to leave some plain and simple with a single color- but they're still oh, so sweet!
After frosting, leave the cookies out to dry for 1-2 hours and layer in between sheets of wax paper when storing them. They are the perfect treat to put out for a Valentine's day party or to tie up in goodie bags to hand out to all your friends! Take a look at the pictures below to see the decorating process as well as the finished product and then go try it for yourself! Whatever sweets you make for your sweets, I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day! Enjoy!!

Thanks for reading!