Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies – how adorable! Another great recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction blog – her recipes are amazing!

These are simple to make. Whisk your flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and cream cheese, add sugar, then egg and extracts, beating to combine each with each addition.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low. The dough will be thick. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven for 350 degrees. Roll balls of cookie dough, with about 1 tablespoon of dough in each one. Slightly flatten tops with glass or measuring cup. Bake 12-13 minutes.

Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then press a chocolate heart into each cookie.

Then quickly set the baking sheet in the freezer or refrigerator for about 15 minutes to keep the chocolate from completely melting. Once the chocolate has set, you can remove.

Such cute sparkly cookies – just what you need for a Valentine Party!

I used red, pale pink (which almost looked white once it was baked) and a red-silver mix sanding sugar. But you could vary the sugar color according to the holiday – or your favorite colors!

For the recipe and compete instructions, click on the link below:

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/sparkle-sweetheart-cookies/

Holiday Baking always brings back memories of baking with my family. We would always make a variety of cookies to share with our neighbors. Can you imagine 6 kids cooking in the kitchen? What a mess we must have made – but fun memories too! One of my parents’ favorite cookies were these Date Pin Wheels.

Dad and Mom both liked them, but I remember them as ones that my Dad particularly enjoyed. I remember baking them, wrapping them up and giving the cookies to him as a gift

This is the original recipe I wrote out in high school. I still have so many of our family favorites in my first little recipe box. Happy Baking and Happy Holidays!

Sugar Cookies are part of our traditional holiday baking for us to enjoy and share. This year I decided to try a new recipe from the Half Baked Harvest blog, these Easy Vanilla Bean Christmas Lights Cookies.

This will definitely be added to our Christmas Cookie recipe files. So delicious! This sugar cookie recipe has brown butter – which always gives such a depth of flavor to baked goodies and it has double the vanilla as most recipes. I did roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and let it chill before cutting out the shapes.

The vanilla icing recipe also added to the deliciousness of these cookies. Along with the powdered sugar, you add maple syrup, and again, twice the vanilla as usual. What a difference that makes! To decorate, you can melt chocolate chips to create line for the “lights.” Use Holiday Mini M&Ms set on their sides for the lights.

Or just top the cookie with frosting and add your favorite sprinkles. Sprinkles always make cookie baking more fun.

Such a yummy variation of the traditional sugar cookie! The secret is the brown butter, double vanilla and the maple syrup in the icing. Merry Christmas!!!

For the recipe and more photos, click on the link below: