Chocolate Shortbread Heart Cookies

 I realize that it is after Valentine's Day, but I am going to post these anyway. You can use any cookie shape you want; you can probably leave out the cocoa and dye them green for SPD if you would like; or you can use your Easter/Spring cookie cutters; you can also decorate them. I made them with a friend (I do respite sometimes) who lives down a few doors from me, and they turned out well. Now, to be honest, I am not a cookie girl. I can have cookies sit out for days in our kitchen, and unless they are absolutely delicious, I generally will not eat them. Don't know why I am so fat :) Ha! I do love chocolate chip cookies, gingersnaps, and oatmeal/raisin/pb cookies, though. Even then, unless they are very good, and (not) old tasting, I usually won't binge eat them. So, to be honest, I think I only had one, and Anker didn't have any (more on that later), and the few that I did take back to my house, they sat and never did get eaten. HOWEVER, these would be great to make with your kids (esp if you home educate your children).

I found the recipe on good ol' PT (do people even still use that anymore?), which led me to Two Peas and a Pod. I have added it to my MANY blogs that I follow!

I am going post the recipe here, and then I will give you my personal tips and tricks, plus I will add some photos.

First off, if you really want to make a lot, I would say double the recipe. It made barely 3 doz; granted, I probably could have rolled out the dough a bit thinner. 

Second; it says to refrigerate it for a half hour, but we only did 15 minutes. 

Third; you need a really good rolling pin and flat space (duh). This is the part that young kids would find hard, but older kids could most likely do. 

Fourth; Don't make them too thick. 

Fifth; get a ton of sprinkles! I bought a pack of 4, and we could have used at least twice that much, and that was without even doubling said recipe.

Sixth; I thought putting kosher salt on it would be a good idea. Don't do it.

As usual, I didn't read the recipe, and I thought that we needed icing sugar, as I thought they were iced cookies. Guess what? They weren't! Although we DID ice them, and I think they turned out ok! So, you can skip the dipping them in the melted chocolate chips (again, something that I didn't read until I went to do the cookies! I thought that the melted chocolate chips were to GO IN the cookie!); I think the cookie is pretty versatile! You could make them for any holiday or just for "whatever"; you can change your sprinkles for different colour (green for SPD, Spring colours, Christmas colours, blue for winter or Hanukkah, etc)

I am sorry that these photos aren't in order :) I think you get the idea, though. I think they turned out well, considering that I didn't know what I was doing, and that I had never made them before. 

Would I make them again? Yes! I would double it (if I wanted lots), and add more sprinkles, and I probably wouldn't ice them (except if I made them for Christmas?).

So, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this little "tutorial" :) Happy Baking!