Valentine Cookie Lollipops

Tomorrow is Valentine Cookie swap at work.  I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make.  Should I make something traditional like my chocolate espresso cookies or maybe my Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches?  Or do something revolving around Valentine’s?  Of course as you can tell I opted for going with the festive Valentine’s theme.  These are basic sugar cookies with a little twist.  They have a smaller heart cut-out which is then filled with chocolate.  I divided half the batter and added red food coloring (or red gel paste)  and the other half I left as is.  These take a little bit of time and maybe a little patience but they turn cute in the end.  The recipe below makes about 24 cookie lollipops plus little hearts….so plenty.  Placing the lollipop stick in the center of the cookies before baking is the key and can be a little tricky so just be careful.  But most of all have fun making them. 

I’ll let you all know how the cookie swap goes tomorrow at work.  Happy baking and Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Valentine Cookie Lollipops

Print Recipe

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

red gel-paste or food coloring (optional)

24 lollipop sticks

pink or white chocolate wafers (such as merckens chocolate)

Instructions:

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a bowl.  Set aside.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low.  Gradually mix in flour mixture.  Divide dough in half.  If you want to have red hearts (as pictured above) then add about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of food coloring or just a small amount of gel-paste to half the dough and mix well.  Wrap each half of dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk.  Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds.  Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until slightly soften enough to roll, about 5 to 10 minutes.  Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to just about 3/16 inch thick, adding flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.  Cut out cookies with a 2 1/2 inch heart cookie cutter, then cut out the smaller heart in the upper corners of the cookies. 

Here are the cookie cutters I used for these cookies

Then carefully insert the lollipop stick into the center of the cookie being careful not to push the stick out of the cookie.  Place the cookies carefully onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Chill cookies in freezer until very firm, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Roll out any scraps, and repeat.  Repeat with the remaining disk of dough.  You can also use the smaller hearts you have cut out to make small sweethearts.

Bake cookies, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges are slightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.  The sweetheart cookies will be around 10 to 15 minutes.  Let cool on sheets on wire racks. 

Place cookies onto wax paper once cooled.  Melt chocolate color of choice as directions state.  Using a small squeeze bottle,  flood the small heart cut-out with chocolate.  Gentle tap the pan to get the chocolate to set evenly in the small heart.  Let chocolate set completely before removing from wax paper.  You can place in the refrigerator of freezer to let the chocolate set faster.

You can wrap the cookies in lollipop bags and tie with a bow if your giving these treats away to friends and family.

The cookies can be stored in a airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.