Valentine's

A Love Letter to My Daughter and Her Friends, and Peanut Butter Heart Cookies

Dear Every Girl My Daughter’s Age, including her Friends and Herself:

I feel like there are some things you need to hear and I mean HEAR. Like, in your soul and REMEMBER. Because, this world is crazy, and sometimes ugly. It shoves images and expectations at you, and even though it is a new age and there are so many more opportunities and glass ceilings are shattering…there is still some rampant crappola the world is sending your way.

  1. You are perfection. You aren’t perfect and that is OK. No one is. But you, and all you are, is exactly who and what you were supposed to be. Glorious and resplendent in all of your ways. Every smile, every laugh, every brilliant thing that comes out of your mouth (and even the not so brilliant things) make you you. And wow, is the world lucky to have you.
  2. You may not love your body. But start now. She’s been with you so far, and if you realize it early enough, she is your champion. She will get you to places and do things you haven’t thought of yet. Your body, whatever size, whatever shape, is perfection. Don’t let it define where you belong in this world. You belong. Period. Please don’t waste one more second listening to a culture that wants you hating on yourself. It’s a tragedy.
  3. Your mind is amazing. You are SMART. Your opinions matter. Your thoughts matter. Your creative ideas matter. Your decisions matter. For those of you who think bigger than the space your body takes up, keep being bigger. If they are worthy of you, they will get you and love it about you.
  4. Your heart is bigger and stronger than you imagine. You may have navigated the hard things already. You may not have had any bumps in the road. Life will teach you lessons and one of them, amazingly enough, is that YOUR HEART IS STRONGER than you know. It will survive. You will survive. You will be better for it.
  5. And lastly, no Mom on this earth, whether it be your biological one or adopted one or grafted in one or decided one along the way would ever, ever want you to settle. In any capacity. Do not sell yourself short. Do not accept a “less than” when you are worthy of so much more. You deserve to be successful, loved, and cherished in every capacity. Especially by yourself.

This is my abbreviated and not all inclusive Valentine’s wish for you, but for today, it will have to do.

All the love my heart can hold,

Chrissy (Mom)

(OK, and then there are these cookies. Which are little peanut butter puffs which then have a chocolate candy smooshed in when done baking. 🙂 Listen, every blog can’t be emotional, and every blog can’t be about the recipe. I recommend this cookie if you have a peanut butter lover in your life. Because they are amazing.)

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Peanut Butter Heart Cookies

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This recipe is originally from www.sallysbakingaddiction.com This recipe makes a light, pillowy soft dough that gets refrigerated for up to a day, and then topped with a chocolate heart of your choice. I used two different types of candies for this, a solid chocolate heart, and a peanut butter filled heart. It is hard to tell which were enjoyed more, because they both disappeared rather quickly! This recipe yields 2 dozen cookies.

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

·       1 stick (½ cup) Butter (room temperature)

·       1 Large Egg

·       ¾ Cup Peanut Butter

·       1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

·       ½ Cup White Sugar

·       ½ Cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar

·       ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda

·       ¼ Teaspoon Salt

·       1 ¼ Cups Flour

·       Chocolate Heart Candies (Dove, Lindt, Reese’s all work)

Instructions

1.     In a bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda together.

2.     Using a mixer with a paddle attachment beat butter until fluffy. Add sugars and cream together until smooth.

3.     Add in peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Combine until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4.     Add the combined dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly on a lower speed. 

5.     Roll out dough into balls using a cookie scoop or tablespoon measure and chill. OR Chill dough as a whole for at least half an hour up to a day. The longer you chill, you may need to let the dough sit for a little bit before rolling out into balls. *this is why I roll them before I chill them

6.     Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

7.     Place dough balls evenly spaced on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

8.     Allow cookies to cook for a few minutes, then press chocolate candy into each cookie.

9.     Allow cookies to cool completely, unless the idea of a melty chocolate heart is your thing (it’s my thing).

 

10.  Cookies stay fresh in an air-tight container for up to a week. They won’t last that long. 😉

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Cream Cheese Sprinkle Valentine Cookies

As I sit here writing with a very tired puppy at my feet, in the stillness that is a Friday evening, Valentine’s Day is around the corner. In many of the podcasts I listen to, the idea of being single during the “Pandemmy” (because seriously if we can’t give this thing a cute nickname…what is our mental health status…wait, what?) is perfectly acceptable.

I know there are those couples out there who rocked out quarantine and are stronger than ever. And, go you. That’s amazing.

And there are those of us who had some good old fashioned time to look inward as well as outward and say, yeah, let’s face some hard facts.

Let’s use this quiet time to look at some of the stuff. The stuff we stay busy to avoid.

Which leads to uncomfortable questions, quiet reflections, and harder decisions. Which results in being solo for celebration of all couples everywhere.

But, that being said, I think even those of us who are celebrating sans-valentine deserve something beautiful and sweet on the sweetest day. What says cute like a cookie covered in sprinkles? Am I right? I read somewhere, “Hey these feelings aren’t going to eat themselves.” I jest.

The original posting for these cookies is from Sally’s Baking Addiction. These cookies are light and fluffy, they almost melt in your mouth, with the sweet and tang of a cream cheese base, vanilla and almond extracts, and the crystal crunch of the sanding sugar coating. Now, you don’t need to roll them in sugar. They are sweet without it. But it’s Valentine’s Day. Let’s paint with all the colors of the wind here.

Mix the dough, roll and chill. Then while the oven is preheating, roll them in decorative sugar (I found the three pack of two pinks and purple at my local craft store in the baking aisle) and press slightly with a glass to flatten.

When the cookies are freshly baked and cooling, press a heart shaped chocolate in the middle and voila! Perfection. I used Dove dark chocolate hearts, but with the ingenuity of the candy makers of the world, you could really mix it up. These cookies would actually be perfect for any occasion, provided you find the right sprinkle colors for the event. (Red and Green, Blue and Silver, Yellow and Pink, like I said, colors of the wind).

I think that the gift of quiet/alone time is the ability to check out your life and determine if it is the one you want to be living. We build it, daily. We create it, and design it, and chose to live where and how we live, if we are lucky. I am so thankful that even though things aren’t perfect…and my life looks differently than it did a year ago, I still wake up me.

Maybe the best part of Valentine’s Day is the part where we realize that we are surrounded by people who love us. The family we are born into, the family we create, the family we choose, the people who hold us up along the way. People who see our light and honor it. Encourage it, and help it grow.

Those are the love lights we cling to.

Those are the people who get the cookies. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table.

Love,

Chrissy

Click Below for Full Recipe

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Cream Cheese Sprinkle Valentine Cookies

Print Recipe

The original recipe for these cookies is from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I bake at a lower temperature, but otherwise I followed her directions and recipe. This recipe yields approximately 3 dozen cookies.

  • Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 Cup Butter (2 Sticks)
  • 2 Ounces Cream Cheese (block)
  • 1 Cup White Sugar
  • 1 Large room temperature Egg
  • 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Teaspoon Almond Extract
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 3 Cups Flour
  • Various sanding sugars/sprinkles
  • Approx 36 chocolate heart candies

Instructions

  1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt together in a separate bowl and set aside.
  2. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, combine butter and cream cheese on high speed until combined and smooth.
  3. Add sugar and beat until combined.
  4. Add in egg, extracts, and beat on higher speed until all incorporated.
  5. Scrape down sides of bowl, and slowly add dry ingredients at a lower speed.
  6. Chill dough (at this point I scoop and roll dough between my hands and chill- making the next step easier but you can chill the entire dough and scoop dough out afterwards) for at least one hour.
  7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare cookie sheets with either parchment or silicone baking sheets.
  8. Roll cookie dough balls in sanding sugar or sprinkles of your choice.
  9. Place cookies approximately 2″ apart on cookie sheets.
  10. Using a glass or measuring cup, press down slightly on dough balls to flatten.
  11. Bake cookies for approximately 12-15 minutes depending on your oven. 
  12. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes.
  13. Press unwrapped chocolate heart candy into the middle of each cookie.

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