Valentine's Day Cookies

Ingredients

• 12 Tbsp salted butter, softened* ($1.78)
• 1 cup sugar ($0.32)
• 1 tsp vanilla ($0.57)
• 1 large egg ($0.42)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.24)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder ($0.05)
• 1 lb melting chocolate* ($3.99)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to whip the softened butter & cup of sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the beaten egg and vanilla to the creamed butter and mix to incorporate.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the all-purpose flour and the baking powder.
4. Add half the flour to the creamed butter and mix just until a wet dough forms. Add the second half of the flour and mix gently until a stiffer dough forms. Roll the dough into a ball.
5. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough ¼ inch thick. Cool for thirty minutes in the fridge. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
6. Once the dough has hardened, cut out the cookies, remove the scraps from the cookie sheet, and leave the cookies behind. Roll any scraps out on a separate piece of parchment, and chill before cutting them into cookies.
7. Place the sheet of parchment paper with the cookies on a baking sheet. Bake the cookies at 350°F for 3 minutes. Next, rotate the pan, so the front faces the back—then bake for 3 to 4 minutes until they slightly lighten in color.
8. Cool the cookies in the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Decorate when cookies have cooled.
9. To Melt the Chocolate on the Stove Top: If using the stove, place a small wide-mouthed bowl in a pan filled a third of the way with water. Bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat. Leave the bowl in the water and stir until the chocolate melts.
10. Dip half of the cookie in the chocolate and garnish if you'd like to. Then place back on the cooling rack, allowing the chocolate to harden.