Cookies for Your Valentine

Over Christmas I made these tasty cookies from Martha Stewart's COOKIES cookbook called Grammy's Chocolate Cookies. The recipe calls for regular sanding sugar to roll them in but I took my Christmas sprinkles and used those instead. I think these cookies would be great for Valentine's Day as well- and they could be rolled in pinks, whites, and reds to go with the occassion. They actually have a set of Valentine color sprinkles in the dollar section at Target right now (although I think they're $2.50... still a good deal though).

So here's the recipe:

• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch- process cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Sanding Sugar for rolling

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture; beat to combine. Form dough into a flattened disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Rolls each ball in sanding sugar. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 1.5 inches apart. Bake until set, 10- 12 minutes, rotaing halfway through. Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies from baking sheet to wire rack. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temp up to 1 week.

There they are on the right.