HEART SHAPED COOKIES WITHOUT COOKIE CUTTER RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.
• Put a handful of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Put the rolled dough, including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. Repeat the process with scraps after cutting cookies.
• Cut 24 heart-shaped cookies of the same size from the dough. Use a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut a second hole in half of the cookies; this will be the window where the jam will show through. Transfer the cut cookies to a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to allow to cool, 20 to 30 minutes. Spread about 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the centers of the cookies without the heart-cut centers. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the rest of the cookies with the heart-cut centers, and mount onto the cookies with jam.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in color. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until combined, then add flour mixture gradually until totally combined.  Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour. When ready to roll, preheat oven to 350º and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out dough until 1/8” thick. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared baking sheets.  Bake until edges are lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes.  Make frosting: In a large bow using a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until combined.  Divide frosting into 3 bowls. Add pink food coloring to one bowl and red food coloring to another. Stir each bowl and add more food coloring until desired color is reached. Frost cookies using an offset spatula with each color of frosting, then top with sprinkles.