Who says sugar heart cookies have to be for Valentine’s Day. Isn’t everyone in love with someone. It doesn’t have to be just a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. You can love anyone you want. If you love someone, why not show it with sweetheart sugar cookies.

First step – supplies and ingredients: baking sheets, parchment paper, rolling pin, extra flour for rolling, cooling rack, measure cups and spoons, flour sifter and/or colander for sifting (I’ll show you how), heart cookie cutter (the amount of cookies you yield will depend on the size of the cookie cutter. This cutter was about 1 1/2 inches.

This made 48 really thin and crunchy sugar cookies.

Instructions: cream the butter and the sugar. sift together the dry ingredients; add to the butter mixture and beat well. Add the egg, orange juice, and vanilla. Beat again until well mixed. Shape the dough into three flattened round, wrap with clear plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Preheat over to 350 degrees F, 325 if you have a convection oven. Line baking sheets.

On a well floured board, or countertop (I like to use my granite island since it’s nice and cold, and as long as it is cleaned off thoroughly, its fine to work on) roll out the dough until it is 1/3 inch thick. Cut into shapes and set on cookie sheet – well enough apart so that they don’t cook together (I usually give it about an inch, but then risk it if I want to back in less intervals).

Bake for 10 minutes. I found that with my 350 degree temp on my convection oven they took about 7 minutes to bake. So, without the convention, I would say 9 – 10 minutes. If they start to smell, they are done (also, don’t let them brown on the sides. if slightly browned, they will just be crunchier. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute before transferring them onto a cookie cooling tray. I use my mini spatula for this. Let cool.

Mix some confectioners sugar with a little orange juice or lemon, depending on what flavor you like. Spread over cookies and add decorations. You can also make up different colors of confectioners sugar to decorate your cookies with.

I used the leftover dough for cookie press cookies. You can use the any leftover dough once more before it starts to get sticky and/or too soft. to work with. If you refrigerate it again, you can roll it out and cut more cookies. This only takes more of your time. If you don’t have the time, you can refrigerate it and come back to it the next day – just roll out and cut from it again. I just like to cookie press it so I don’t have to roll it again. When using the cookie press, you can’t press on parchment. I transferred the cookies onto the parchment after pressing, using my small serving spatula.