Chinese new year is over, but we will continue with festivities to warm the heart. Valentines day is upon us, and what a great excuse that gives us all to bake cookies and decorate them for our loved ones. This is a great activity to do with kids and can easily be carried out with a majority of the ingredients common to most homes. This should be a easy Valentine’s Day for mommy and daddy.

This is a recipe that is dear to my heart. I will not pretend that I came up with this recipe, as it comes from one of my most treasured (and most expensive) cookbooks I own. However, I did study under one of the authors of this cookbook while in culinary school, Pastry Chef Eddy Van Damme. I have taken this book with me around the world, and will continue to for the rest of my life. I have tested and tasted this cookie recipe many times and it never fails. With love I share this sweet recipe.

Sugar Cookies From The Pastry Cookbook On Baking

240 gram all purpose flour

2 gram baking powder

180 gram unsalted soft butter

120 gram granulated sugar

60 gram powdered sugar

3 gram salt

1 egg

5 ml vanilla extract

1. Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in the salt, egg, and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm (around 1 to 2 hours).
4. Work with half the dough at a time, keeping the remainder refrigerated. On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately 3 millimeters. Cut with the heart cookie cutters. Carefully transfer to lightly buttered baking sheets.
5. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius until set and golden (10 to 12 minutes). Let the cookies stand for 1 minute then transfer to wire racks to cool.

Decorative Cookie Icing

480 gram powdered sugar

120 ml lemon juice or water

60 ml corn syrup

5 ml vanilla extract

Food coloring as needed

1. Combine the sugar, lemon juice or water, corn syrup and vanilla extract. Blend until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth. Adjust the consistency of the icing by adding more water if necessary. Color as desired.
2. Apply the icing to the cookies and let them air dry until the icing hardens.

Pauline van Hasselt has been working for beijingkids since October 2016. Born in Wassenaar, The Netherlands, she moved with her husband and her 3 year-old daughter to Beijing in June of this year. Prior she lived in the Netherlands, Belgium, Paraguay, Texas, and London, studying and working as a chef. Pauline enjoys biking around Beijing, finding markets and new restaurants, reading crime and fantasy books in bed, and most importantly, turning her house into a home for her family.