Ingredients

• 1.5 Cups - Bakers All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup - Red Velvet Cake & Cupcake Mix
• 2.5 Cups - Icing Sugar
• 1 Cup - Salted Butter (Softened)
• 1 Tsp. - Vanilla Extract, Artificial
• 2 - Egg Whites
• 1 Cup - Merckens Red Molding Wafers
• 6 Drops - Red Food Colouring

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 °F
• In a mixing bowl of an electric mixer, combine softened butter, 1/2 cup of icing sugar and vanilla extract. Then using a paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until mixture is smooth and no lumps remain. Reduce speed to low, then add in flour and red velvet cake mix. Combine until dough is fully mixed.
• Remove dough from mixing bowl and place onto a work surface lined with plastic wrap. Then using a rolling pin, roll out dough into 1/4 inch thickness and place into the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to firm up.
• Once chilled, remove dough from the fridge and then using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place onto silicone baking mat on the cookie sheets, leaving about 1 inch between cookies. Return prepared cookies to the fridge for 30 minutes prior to baking to ensure they keep their shape.
• Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or just until the bottom of the cookies are slightly browned.
• Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• While cookies are cooling, place red molding wafers into a stainless steel or glass bowl and melt using a double boiler. Transfer melted wafers into a piping bag with a small round tip.
• Once cookies have cooled, pipe a heart shaped outline onto each cookie using the melted molding wafers. Set aside to allow outline to harden.
• To make the icing, place egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer. Then using a whisk attachment, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks are formed, then add in icing sugar and mix on low speed until smooth.
• Spoon out a small amount of plain icing and place into small plastic sandwich bag. Set aside.
• Add 2 drops of red food coloring into the remaining icing, then mix on low speed until a light pink color is achieved. Remove 3/4 of the icing and place into a piping bag with a medium round tip. Set aside.
• Add 4 more drops of red food coloring to the bowl and mix until a smooth red color is achieved. Spoon icing into another small plastic sandwich bag and set aside.
• To decorate the cookies, first trim off a tiny corner from each small sandwich bag containing the colored icing. (Opening should be the size of a small pin head.)
• Using the larger piping bag with pink icing, begin by flooding the middle of a cookie with icing until the outline has been filled. Once filled, immediately pipe lines horizontally across the cookie using both of the smaller bags filled with red and white colored icing, alternating the colors as you go. Once lines have been piped onto the cookie, drag the tip of a toothpick up and down across the lines of icing to create a pattern. Repeat this process for the rest of the cookies. Let cool at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to allow icing to harden before serving.

Alternate decorating step:

For a more simple decorating process, simply add in food coloring after step "9" until desired color is achieved, then transfer all of the icing into a piping bag and flood outlined cookies until completely filled. Let cool at room temperature for 20-30 minutes to allow icing to harden before serving.

Yield: About 2 dozen cookies

Notes:

• Does not need to be refrigerated.
• Store in an airtight container or cookie tin.
• Shelf life: 4-5 days (Can also be frozen)

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