Cookies – Yea Yea Pueblo

Growing up, Valentine’s Day was one of my favorite holidays. I loved the cards, the crafts, the candies and the parties. I still do, and I hope to make this holiday just as special for my kids growing up.

This time last year, I was heavily pregnant with Margot, and our cupboards were rather bare (it’s funny how chores take a back seat when you’re 8 months preggy). I felt compelled to bake a Valentine’s Day treat for my husband so he’d have something nice to come home to — so I gathered a few pantry staples and made these peanut butter cookies shaped like hearts. I’m sharing the recipe and how-to tips on shaping your cookies just in case any of you find yourself scrambling for a last minute Valentine’s Day treat. These cookies are made a little less sweet, making them great for dipping in (chocolate) milk, or sandwiching with nutella, for those of you with a sweet tooth.

Follow the instructions posted below to make your cookie dough. When that’s complete, line your baking sheets with parchment paper, and roll out the dough into 1 1/4″ balls and line them up, 12 cookies per baking sheet.

Take the flat end of a fork and part the top of the cookie, pressing each side outward to form the top of the heart. Pinch the bottom of the cookie to form the bottom of the heart.

Use the prong end of the fork to flatten the cookie down a bit, creating the signature peanut butter cookie criss-cross.

Once your cookies are shaped, sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 6-9 minutes at 375F.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Peanut Butter Cookies for Valentine's Day 095A7215

Valentine’s Day Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Crystle

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 8 mins

Total time: 18 mins

Serves: 36

Festive Valentine’s Day Peanut Butter Cookies, made light with whole wheat pastry flour, light sugar and other pantry staples.

Ingredients

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
1 tsp baking soda

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F
Beat sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and egg on med speed until creamy.
Blend in flour and baking soda on low speed until well blended.
Shape dough into 1 1/4″ balls. Using flat end of fork, part and spread the top of the ball open to form the top of the heart. Pinch the bottom of the ball to form the bottom of the heart. Flatten each half into criss-cross pattern with prong end of the fork.
Bake 6-9 minutes or until set. Cool on cookie sheet 2 mins, remove to wire racks to cool.

The advent candles on our table have been melting down, week by week, in anticipation of Christmas. After dinner and discussion, we read aloud our nightly advent prayer. Then I secretly add on a prayer request for less judgement in my heart, because those ritualistic purple and pink candles on the wreath are totally cramping my style.

Yes, it’s Christmastime again. Christmas cards have been mailed out, icicle lights hang gleefully from our front elevation, and hints of cinnamon and pine waft fragrantly through the home. This is such a nice time of year, but experiencing it in Alaska is very different from winter in Bakersfield, CA. Aside from the obvious difference in temperature and snowfall, the sun is showing up for less than four hours a day, hanging only as high on the horizon as a two story building down the street. It’s dark, cold and dreary up here. As I write this post at 2:44 pm, the sun has already faded behind the Alaska mountain range, leaving only a pink and orange glow in its wake. It will stay this way for at least another hour and a half before darkness envelops the tundra.