Valentine's Day Cookies

My daughter and I are making Valentine's Day Cookies for gift giving.  We are using our favorite Sugar Cookie recipe and Marshmallow Fondant to cover them.  We painted the stripes with almond extract and food coloring.  The pearls are made with royal icing and different shades of pearl dust.  The heart is made out of fondant.  These cookies are great to make in an advance. 

Sugar Cookies Recipe: 
Make 10-12 large cookies
( Depends on thickness and size of cutter)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degees.  In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy.  Add egg and continue to beat until lighter in color.  Sift flour, pinch salt and baking powder into a bowl.  Add extracts into butter mixture, mix well.  Slowly add flour mixture and mix well.  Wrap dough in clear wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.  Roll out dough onto a floured surface and cut into shapes, about 1/8 inch thick.  You can go thicker if you like, but adjust cooking time.  Bake on parchment or silpat for about 8 - 10 minutes until lightly golden. 

Decorate as follows:  Brush each cookie with apricot glaze.  Make fondant and roll out.  Cut using the same cutter as the cookie dough. Place fondant on to cookie.  The glaze will help the fondant to stick to the cookie.  Decorate as desire.  Special note: if you are adding layers of fondant or adding a heart like I did ,you must attach with thinned out royal icing.  The pearls are made with stiff to medium consistency of royal icing.

Marshmallow Fondant:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided

Directions
Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.

Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.

Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.

Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Apricot Glaze
1 jar of apricot preserves

Blend in blender to smooth out. Heat to thin out glaze.  Use a pastry brush to brush each cookie with glaze.

Royal Icing Recipe:
3 tablespoons meringue powder
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons water

Directions:
Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7 to 10 minutes, or until icing forms peaks. Tip: Keep icing covered with a wet kitchen towel at all times. Icing can dry out quickly.
Wrap in cellophane bag with ribbon.  Add a card for a personal touch.