Valentines Day Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies (and my broken heart)

I decided something this year. I don’t mesh well with Valentines Day. I love holidays and I love being festive, but I have problems every Valentine’s Day. Its not that I hate the holiday because it reminds me of how lonely I really am (because I am not lonely and I have been happily married for 3 years), its just that I tend to invest my self into the holiday way to much and I always end up having an emotional melt down.

Let me just tell you the story of my fifteenth Valentines Day. I was going to turn 16 on February 26th. It was a rule in my house that my brothers and sisters and me wouldn’t go on any dates until we turned 16. It was a decision that I was perfectly fine with, supported, and could see the reasoning behind. I had personally committed not to date until I was 16. Most of the kids in my high school had the same rule and so it was pretty much wildly known in my school that no one really dated until they were 16. But in anticipation of my 16th birthday my mom bought me two pretty prom dresses for the upcoming formal dances that I would go to through out my high school years. And then I heard the rumor passed on that an older guy was thinking about asking me to the Sweetheart Ball on Valentine’s day. I was so upset that my birthday wasn’t two weeks early. I wasn’t about to date before my 16th birthday, but I certainly cried about the fact that I wasn’t born a week early instead of a week overdue.

Flash forward to my 16th Valentines dance. I was pretty sad that the guy (who is now my hubby) I had a crush on decided to ask someone else and that the guy (a perfectly nice and normal guy) who asked me only asked me after asking three other girls. I hated watching my crush dancing with someone else the whole time. I am pretty sure I went home and cried because I was so worried the guy I liked didn’t like me back.

Flash forward again to my first Valentines Day as a married couple. I decided I wanted to go all out and set up a fancy surprise dinner for me and my husband. I made a fancy invitation and emailed it to my husband, knowing that he checks his email multiple times a day. I planned a menu and bought fancy plates and goblets at the dollar store. I had a note on the invite to RSVP so I could know what time he was coming home from work ahead of time. I had plans to set up the whole dinner in the tropical jungle room in the green houses on the campus of BYU-I. Normally they are open all the time to students and faculty, but when I went there I found out they were closed because they were spraying the plants with some chemical. So I went to my parents house and barged right in all flustered and started making a mess in the kitchen and ranting about how everything had gone all wrong. At that point I hadn’t gotten a single call from my husband to RSVP. So I called my husband and he had looked briefly at the email but didn’t open the attachment. He had no idea what I had been planning the whole time. I was so upset. I was about to throw in the towel and just give up. But my brother Riley went up into the bonus room and turned it into a Valentine’s Day wonderland. He even covered the lights with red tissue paper so it glowed pinkish red. My other brother and my sister dressed up and said they would be waiters. And by the time my husband got there, I was bawling. I don’t really know why. I guess because I had bustled around all day, with everything going wrong that I just started crying. And on top it my siblings were being so sweet that that made me cry too. I decided that I shouldn’t plan surprised anymore because I get too emotionally invested and then my husband ends up trying to comfort me and reassure me that everything turned out fine and doesn’t even get to enjoy the surprise.

The next year, I think we just went out to dinner. Thank goodness. But this year I decided I wanted to make really cute sugar cookies. Conversation Heart sugar cookies. I wanted them to look perfect. I made all the colors with Royal frosting. And spread out the process over two days. I wanted to save piping on the saying until I was with my little sister because she loves to decorate cookies. So I packaged them up in a glass pyrex dish. They were so cute. We drove to our families and were bringing everything from our car to the house and in the process: CRASH. The pyrex dish was dropped and it shattered every where outside. The cookies were covered in dirt and little glass shards. When I saw the mess on the ground I just started bawling. I think I cried for like 10 minutes. Once I got control of myself, I realized that I did it again. I got emotionally attached to something. I get too excited about being festive, that when things go wrong it hits me too hard. And it is always just on Valentine’s Day. However, my sister was sweet and pulled out a sugar cookie mix and a heart cookie cutter and said, “Let’s just make them again.” Thanks Em.

From now on, I am just going to let what ever happens happen and not have anymore melt downs. Sound good? Good.

INGREDIENTS (Brown Sugar and Spice Sugar Cookies):

• 3  cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. allspice
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 batch of royal icing

Directions:

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a  bowl and whisk together

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

3. Mix in the flour mixture a little bit at a time and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

4. Roll out the dough into a disk between parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 30 minute ( or speed it up in the freezer for about 10 minutes).  Roll it out on a lightly floured surface and use cookie cutters to make shaped cookies.

5. Lay cookies out on a baking sheet and refrigerate for another 10-15 minutes. This prevents them from spreading when they cook. Bake for about 10-12 minutes at 350 F. Let them cool before decorating.

For the ROYAL ICING Recipe and tutorial Click here.

We also made a couple flower cookies. If you turn the pink ones upside down, they look like strawberries.

For more Valentine’s Day ideas:

• Glazed Heart Brownies
• Pink Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Ganache Frosting