Grinch Heart Cookies

In case you weren't aware, I am obsessed with The Grinch. Tom is as well, which means when Thanksgiving is over, our apartment is immediately transformed into a winter wonderland of all things Christmas and Grinch. We really should start looking into buying a house soon since we keep finding more Grinch items, but we have no where to place them. However, this doesn't stop us from buying more. While I like to think that we are reasonable, responsible people, all of that immediately flies out the window when surrounded with Grinch items.

A few years ago, we happened to wander down the Christmas aisles at Walmart and found multiple sets of ornaments, stockings and various Grinch decor. We both looked at back and forth between each other and the Grinch items.

and then our eyes met again and we turned into crazy Grinch-addicted people tossing everything Grinch related into the cart at warp speed before calmly and quietly walking out of the aisle like it never happened.

That happened three years ago and it still makes me laugh. Anyone who happened to see us in our Grinch item grabbing frenzy must have thought we were insane. I don't, however, regret it for one second. I am slightly proud to say that we don't go quite as overboard anymore.

Grinch Heart Cookies
Source: Food.com 
Yield: 3 ½ dozen (approximately)
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Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• red and green sanding sugar 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour and baking powder into a medium bowl.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla until fully incorporated.

4. Add in flour mixture, one cup at a time. If the dough is too thick, add in one teaspoon of water at a time until it reaches your desired consistency.
5. Roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes.
6. Place shapes on prepared baking sheets and bake for 6-8 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies) and allow to cool on wire racks before decorating.

To Decorate:
Fill a piping bag with the icing of your choice and a thin tip (Wilton 1 and 3 are my preferred choices). Trace heart and circle shapes onto the cookies.
To flood cookies - separate out a portion of the icing and add 1-2 drops of water at a time, stirring constantly until mixture has thinned to a drizzling consistency. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and gently squeeze icing into the lined hearts and circles. Sprinkle immediately with sanding sugar and allow to dry completely.

Thanks again to Brenda of Meal Planning Magic for hosting the 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats.