Valentine’s Cookie: Super Yummy Butter Cookie

I have talked before about my love of Alice Waters and her lovely cookcook, The Art of Simple Food. No recipe in it has yet let me down. So why, oh why, did I wait so long to try her butter cookie recipe? What is wrong with me?

This simple recipe will knock your socks off with its perfect buttery saltiness. And then you can change it up and add some raspberry jam, or a light powdered sugar glaze to decorate them. They will make your Valentine’s Day extra yummy.

PS. This realization that everything in this cookbook is amazing means that I am now going to start cooking almost exclusively from this book, because YUM.

Butter Cookie Recipe: Adapted from Alice Waters,’ The Art of Simple Food.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg, at room temperature

2 tsps milk

2.5 cups unbleached flour

Preheat over to 350F. Cream together butter and sugar. Then add vanilla, salt and egg.  Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined. Divide into thirds, and shape into logs. Wrap in saran wrap, and chill until firm. Then slice into 1/4 inch slices, and place two inches apart on baking sheet.  (Even though the dough has no levening agent, the cookies do spread).  Or, instead of logs, divide the dough in half, and form round disks, wrap in saran warp and put in fridge until firm. Roll dough out to 1/4 thick and cut with cookie cutters. Place spaced out on cookie sheet.  Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Let cool on sheet for a bit. Feel free to frost or make jam-filled cookie sandwiches (my favorite).

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Rachel

 

 

Decorating for Valentine’s Day

Let’s be honest. I love pink. Love it. I have toned down much of the pink my wardrobe and decore as I have gotten older, but that doesn’t change my love of this great color.

At Valentine’s Day I get to decorate with pink without any apologies.

I made the hanging heart ornaments from pieces of felt. Each one is two layers of felt, with a thread just hot glued into the middle. They remind me of weeping willows, but with pink, red and white hearts. Pretty cute, huh?

Another picture:

The pink/red vase is one that I made. I bought a wooden vase a few months ago at a thrift store, intending to spray paint it. However, the surface was too slick and the painted ended up dripping and bubbling off. It was very weird. I hadn’t seen that happen before. So I got out my winter j-crew catalogue and Victoria’s Secret catalogue. I cut out strips of pink and red, then used ModgePodge to glue the paper onto the vase. Once it was all covered with paper, I applied two coats of ModgePodge for extra shine.

Then I filled my antique birdhouse with crumpled bits of pink, red and white tissue paper.

I got the milk vases at a thrift store. I adorned this one with some pink/red rose napkin rings that I made a while ago. They were easy to make, but unfortunately, I made them before I started blogging, so I don’t have pictures of the process.

Flower napkin rings

I just love the way the pieces all look together.

The background piece is probably my favorite. It might hang on my wall year round, since the colors are so muted. Again, I used my j-crew and Victoria’s Secret catalogue to cut out hearts in neutral colors. A few coats of ModgePodge onto a canvas and this baby was good to go. I mean, it took me a few hours, but was really simple. I watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles (hilarious) while I did it.

I also used the tissue paper from West Elm (it’s the gray/silver paper that has the words “peace” and “love” and “joy” on it).

I got all the candle stick holders from thrift stores. None were more than a few dollars. If they weren’t the right color, I spray painted them.

Anyway, I hope you like it as much as I do. And I hope you get to take advantage of Valentine’s Day to decorate with obscene amounts of pink as well.

Pink love,

Rachel

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