Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, so I decided to do some baking before Scott got home from feeding other happy couples. His mom got us a calendar for Christmas that includes recipes each month - February's being for sugar cookies. Turns out, you can order the recipe as a print for just $24 from Lily & Val directly. For icing, I followed a basic icing recipe found here. These cookies are kind of perfectly sweet and buttery, where you realize you have had 5 and should probably stop so you don't die.

To make them you will need:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

To get started:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add vanilla and egg and mix thoroughly.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder.
4. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine into a dough.
5. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin and cut into hearts.
6. Bake at 400 F for 7 minutes.

For the icing, mix together the following:

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• food colouring

When they come out they are very soft, but harden up as they cool to a nice cookie consistency. You need to wait for them to cool before icing them. To ice them, I just dipped them into the icing, then let it set. Enjoy!

Flourless Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Scott wanted a sweet treat, but we had no flour. The solution: Flourless Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (here)! These cookies had such a surprisingly good chewy texture that I cannot explain. They also only required one egg, which happened to be all we had. As delicious as they were, I must share them with you. They were quick, easy, and perfectly tasty.

To make them, you will only need 7 things:

• 2/3 cup oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (okay, 3/4 cups... it was heaping)

1. Toss oats, cinnamon, and baking soda together in a small bowl
2. In a medium bowl, beat the egg. Mix in peanut butter and brown sugar until combined. Add oat mix and combine. Fold in the chocolate chips.
3. Chill the mix in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make balls from the dough (~1.5 tbsp in size) and spread evenly across the baking sheet. Press balls down to make cookie shapes.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. They will seem under baked... but take them out! After cooling on the sheet for 10 minutes, they will be perfect. Eat them all!