Well folks, it’s that time of year. Stores cover their windows with hot-pink hearts. Candy of all fillings show up on every shelf. And everyone seems a little happier (or angrier if you’re the anti-love type). It’s Valentine’s Day.
This year I’ll be spending Valentine’s day without a male special someone. Not unlike most of my Valentine’s day. But just because I don’t have a boy doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate the day and shower my loved ones with something sweet.
Since I love to bake (and my friends love to eat my baked goods), I decided to whip up a few sweet treats for those special people in my life. Tonight I tackled the heart-shaped sugar cookie, a classic holiday treat.
I’ve made this recipe many times, so this time I wanted to try something new. I made two versions of the dough. The first is the original and the second is a healthier version. I recently had to write an article about healthy ingredient substitutions (shameless plug), and decided to give them a try.
So let’s see how it went.
Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies
Dough Recipe One
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup softened butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-1/2 cups All Purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Directions
- Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
- Blend in eggs and vanilla extract.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix together.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap, place in container, and refrigerate over night.
Dough Recipe Two
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2/3 cup mashed bananas (roughly 2 medium bananas)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-1/2 cups All Purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Directions
- Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
- Blend in bananas and vanilla extract.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix together.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap, place in container, and refrigerate over night.
After the dough is made, the preparation is the same.
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cover surface with flour (to avoid dough sticking to the table)
- Separate the dough into four sections.
- Roll section from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut out cookies using any type of cookie cutter.
- Place cookies, 1-inch apart, on baking sheet (sprayed with Pam)
- Bake 6 to 8 minutes.
- Let cookies cook completely before icing and adding other decoration.
But before loading these treats up with frosting and sprinkles, take a look at the nutritional info per cookie.
Dough 1: 110 calories, 5g fat
Dough 2: 86 calories, 4g fat
Ok, so not a huge calorie difference in the long run. But if you plan on piling on the extras and eating more than one, you’d be better off with a low-calorie base.
Aside from nutritional info, there are a few other tiny differences. The second dough doesn’t hold its shape as well when baked. It also rises a bit more than the typical sugar dough, so you may want to roll the dough a little thinner. As far as taste, the second dough isn’t as sweet, which is great if you want to avoid going into a sugar coma.
But when it comes down to it, both are amazing cookies that your special someone will love!
What’s your go-to cookie recipe?