With three boys in our house, we have been through many holiday classroom parties over the past 15 years. I have experimented with so many treat recipes that I lost count. 🙂 Today I want to share with you my absolute favorite Valentine’s Day Cookies. The four things that make a great recipe for me are simple, delicious, quick and cute!

SIMPLE

I love recipes that include basic ingredients that I always have on hand. When it comes to working in the kitchen, I don’t like to spend more than 2 hours total (including setup and cleanup). Recipes that require very specific, refined artistry are not for me and I’d prefer to leave those to professional bakers! I just have never had the time to practice and refine my decorating skills.

DELICIOUS

I’m sure we’ve all had our fair share of recipes that look absolutely beautiful but the taste is lacking. This chocolate sugar cookie recipe is dangerously good! I recommend packing them up and putting them away for your own safety. 🙂

QUICK

Now everyone has their own idea of what quick is. I define quick as getting the job done in a set amount of time. There are no surprises with this cookie recipe. If you just follow the recipe, you will get a wonderfully good cookie in a reasonable amount of time. I like to make the dough ahead, so it can chill, and then bake them later.

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CUTE

I’ve managed to get around icing, sprinkles, cupcake liners and cookie cutters with this recipe and still deliver a super cute gift. You can purchase the little gift bags on Amazon here. I love these because they are self-sealing, you just pull off the tab and fold them over to seal. I’ve included a picture of the back of the cookies below. I made these cookies, put two in a bag and sealed them. When we opened the last one, 7 days later, they were still fresh. If I’m making them for a class party or school event, I like to put these (Homemade with Love) stickers on them.

CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES

When rolled small this recipe will yield about 24 cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cream together butter and brown sugar with a mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition and then add vanilla.
Combine cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix well.
Refrigerate dough for one hour.
Using a teaspoon utensil (not the measuring spoon), scoop dough and roll into a small ball, then place into granulated sugar, roll around to coat. Place sugar coated dough on lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet, spaces cookies two inches apart. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 9-10 minutes.
Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.

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