Valentine's Day Cookies & LBL Apron Give Away

Valentine's Day is all about showing love to the special people in your life. Yvonne and I are both blessed to have some very special people in our lives; Yvonne's boyfriend, Earl, and my husband, Mike. This year we wanted to make sure we showed our love and appreciation to some other VIP's in our lives - those who have supported our blog, read our posts, commented on them and tried the recipes.  And if you are reading this right now, that includes you!  

 

To show our appreciation, we are giving away 2 of our LiveBakeLove aprons!

To win, enter a comment at the end of this post telling us what your favorite Valentine's Day dessert is. We will randomly select 2 winners this Tuesday, February 12th. Winners will be notified by email and aprons will be mailed to you.
 

 

Good luck!

 

Embroidery by Jump Girl

 

 

Now onto the cookies! Last year, we hosted a Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange. Check out that post here. 

 

This year, we decided to do something different; we had a Cookies & Crafts day!

These adorable Valentine's Day Cookie jars are filled with 4 different types of cookies - Meyer Lemon and White Chocolate Shortbread, Chocolate Cherry Kisses, Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam Hearts.

 

 

 

 

Here are the links to the recipes we used to make the Chocolate Cherry Kisses, Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam Heart Cookies.

 

And here's the recipe for the Meyer Lemon & White Chocolate Shortbread Hearts. I'm a big fan of Meyer Lemons and love it when they are in season. Meyer Lemons are sweeter than regular lemons, kind of like a cross between a lemon and an orange. You can substitute regular lemons in this recipe, but I prefer the sweetness of the Meyer Lemon.

 

 

Meyer Lemon & White Chocolate Shortbread Hearts
Makes approx 3 dozen 2" cookies

 

Cookie Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon meyer lemon zest

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

4 ounces white chocolate finely chopped

1 cup butter softened

 

Glaze Ingredients:

1 teaspoon meyer lemon zest

2 tablespoons meyer lemon juice

1 - 1/4 cups powdered sugar

 

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees f

Line baking sheets with parchment paper

 

Add granulated sugar and lemon zest to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using an electric hand mixer). Using your finger tips, rub the zest and the sugar together until very fragrant.

 

Add the flour and white chocolate and mix at low speed until combined.

 

Add the butter and mix on low speed until combined, then increase speed to medium and continue to mix until a dough is formed.

 

Dump the dough out onto a lighty floured surface and knead a few times and form into a disk shape. Roll the dough to 1/2 thickness.

 

Using a cookie cutter in the shape of your choice, cut the dough into shapes and place on the parchment lined baking sheets spacing about 1 1/2" apart.

 

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until very lightly browned.

 

Remove from oven and place on cooling racks to cool.

 

While cookies are cooling, make the glaze -

 

Place all glaze ingredients in a bowl, and mix to combine. Add additional powdered sugar or lemon juice to reach desired consistency.

 

When cookies are cool, dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze and return to the cooling racks to allow glaze to set. Tip: Place parchment paper underneath the cookie sheets, to catch the glaze drippings for each clean up.

 

Store in an air tight container for up to 2 days.