holidays

These Sweet & Sour Lemon Cookies will make your lips pucker in the best possible way. The first bite is really tart because the glaze is made with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a healthy amount of lemon zest. As you chew, the sweetness of the cookie itself — which has the barest hint of lemon — comes through to smooth everything out. It’s the perfect expression of love itself. I don’t know about you, but the people I love the most are also the ones that can break my heart.

There are a two holidays where most people are inclined to throw caution to the wind when it comes to monitoring their sugar intake: Christmas and Valentine’s Day. So I saw no reason to hold back on these beautiful embossed Brown Sugar Cutout Cookies. After covering them with embossed homemade fondant (a yummy combination of white chocolate “dough” and melted marshmallows), I lightly dusted them with confectioners’ sugar for an elegant highlight. You’re welcome!

Gingerbread Valentines? Why not? If someone you love happens to L-O-V-E gingerbread, then gingerbread cookies are the best sweet treat you can give them for Valentine’s Day.

“I know that gingerbread is beneficial to your health because I always feel better when I eat a gingerbread cookie.” Kasha

I   Valentines

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite “cookie” holidays. This year I decided to decorate my creations in a variety of ways to celebrate the sweet side of love ... and to let my inner Cupid out to express the joy of the day. I chose Brown Butter Cookies as my canvas because the flavor is nutty, complex, and irresistible — a lot like love itself.

“Variety is the spice of life.” William Cowper

A few years ago, I made these five stenciled Valentine’s Day cookies as part of an experiment when I started exploring the world of cookie stencils. I decided I needed to work on my technique before making a whole batch of them! Even though they weren’t perfect, they didn’t last long. And that’s the beauty of making edible art. You can always eat your mistakes.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

Hearts and chocolate...the perfect expression of love on Valentine’s Day. Turn them into cookies and you really have something to celebrate. (It doesn’t hurt to add a hug and a kiss to get the “love” part of the message across.)