Frosted Sugar Cookies for Valentine’s Day

Ingredients

• ¾ cup shortening
• ¾ unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 5 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• heart shaped cookie cutters

Instructions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and shortening.
2. Add the sugar, eggs, and almond extract and mix on high until light and fluffy – about 4-5 minutes.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add the flour to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Make sure you are scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
5. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Roll dough ¼ inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutter and place on baking sheet.
8. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until cookies are a delicate golden color. NOTE: Mine only take 6 minutes! Do not let the edges get too brown, you want the bottoms to just barely start to turn a golden color.
9. Remove immediately from pan to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4oz cream cheese, room temperature
• the seeds of one Madagascar vanilla bean
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2lbs powdered sugar
• 1/4-1/2 cup Madagascar vanilla bean infused heavy whipping cream (Recipe here)
• pink food gel – optional
• sprinkles – optional

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.
2. Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds and mix until combined.
3. 1lb at a time, add the powdered sugar. Begin on low speed and increase speed until mixture becomes smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
4. After each addition of sugar, add 3-4 tbsp of cream. Beat on high to combine.
5. Add as much cream as you want until you have a smooth, spreadable consistency. NOTE: I like to make this buttercream a little thinner than what I’d make if I was using it for cupcakes, so I add more cream.
6. Once you have your desired consistency, beat on high for 4-5 minutes.
7. If you want to tint the frosting, add as much gel as you want until you get the color you need. Scrape sides/bottom of bowl to make sure it’s all uniform in color.
8. Frost cookies and decorate with sprinkles!
9. EAT!