Spicy's Sweet Treats

Black And White Heart Cookies

By: Old-Fashioned Bake Sale Book

These heart shaped cookies are basically sugar cookies with a little cream cheese in the dough. They are soft and a little chewy. In the book you are supposed to dip them half way in chocolate but it didn't look like enough to me so I decided to drizzle the melted chocolate over it. Get creative with your baking and cooking design. You can never mess anything up, you just come up with something else. And heck, it might even been better than you imagined.

Ingredients:

•  3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Butter, Softened
• 1 Package (3 Ounces) Cream Cheese, Softened
• 1 Egg
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
• 2 Tablespoons Shortening (I Just Used Butter)

Directions: 

1. Combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, egg and vanilla in a large bowl. Bea at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl often, until light and fluffy. Add flour; beat until well mixed. Divide dough in half;wrap each half in waxed paper. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.
2. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut out with lightly floured 2 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Remove immediately to wire racks to cool completely.
3. Melt chocolate chips and shortening in small saucepan over low hat 4 to 6 minutes or until melted. Dip half of each heart into melted chocolate. Refrigerate on cookie sheets or trays lined with waxed paper until chocolate is firm. Store, covered, in refrigerator.

*When the chocolate is melted, let it cool down for a minute or two and then take a freezer bag or a piping bag, I used a sandwich zip lock bag, put your finger into one of the corners of the bag and stick it into a bowl or a big cup. If you cuff the top of the bag around the bowl or cup, when you pour the chocolate into the bag, it will not fold over or get in the way. Once the bag is ready, let it cool down a little more so you can hold it with out it burning your hands. Cut a small tip off of the bag and drizzle any pattern onto the cookie. Simple.
 
Makes about 3 1/2 dozen