Love Bug Frosted Sugar Cookies

www.delightfulemade.com

Arrow

Sugar Cookie Dough: – 2 sticks butter (1 cup), room temperature – 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar – 1 egg – 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla – 1/2 tsp. almond extract – 3 c. all purpose flour – 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder – 1/2 tsp. salt Frosting: – 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature – 1 1/2 tsp vanilla – 1/2 tsp. almond extract – 4 c. powdered sugar – 2-3 Tbsp. milk – Pink food coloring Decorations: – Candy eye balls – Yogurt covered pretzels

INGREDIENTS

Step 1

For the cookie dough:  With a stand or hand mixer, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and mix until combined.

Step 2

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients (about 1 cup at a time) to the wet ingredients, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Dough will be thick. On a piece of plastic wrap, turn out the dough, shape into a disk, cover with the wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.

Step 3

On a piece of waxed paper, unwrap the chilled dough, and roll out to approximately 1/4" thickness. Cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter. Place on lined baking sheet (lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mat). Bake for approximately 9-11 minutes, until just set. Don't let the cookies overly brown, or they will become dry and brittle. Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Step 4

Frosting: With a hand or stand mixer, cream the room temperature butter along with the vanilla and almond extract. Gradually begin adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl. As the frosting gets stiffer, and the milk one Tbsp. at a time. Add the food coloring and mix until desired color is met.

Step 5

Decorating the cookies: On the cooled cookies, spread a thin base layer of frosting with a knife or decorating spatula. Using a piping bag fitted with a grass tip (#233), decorate the cookies, by squeezing a bit of frosting and pulling up to create a "hair" like effect. Lastly, decorate with 2 candy eyes and 2 pretzels, cut in half) for the legs.

Check out a couple of our other Valentine's Day recipes below!