White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies

Surprise and delight your Valentine this season with these White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies.  Nothing says I love you more than fresh home baked cookies shaped like hearts, dipped in white chocolate and covered in sprinkles!

Now that football season is over, it’s time to move onto the next holiday.  I consider the BIG game a holiday in itself with all the prepping that goes into it.  Love is swirling all around, there are hearts everywhere to be seen and everyone is feeling extra love-y these days, am I right?  Hallmark holiday or not, I like Valentine’s Day.  One of my favorite days of school was passing out Valentine’s at our classroom party.  It was so fun to see what type of Valentine cards you would receive from your friend’s and some of those Valentine’s I saved for years and years!  Don’t ask me why but I’m sure I had a crush on a boy at the time or one of them was my favorite Rainbow Brite character- obviously Rainbow Brite herself!

I was assisting my son last night while he wrote out his Valentine’s and watched as he picked out specific dinosaurs (are you surprised?)  for each one of this friends.  “Well _ _ _ _  really likes zombies and I think this one resembles a zombie.”  Yes, that is how a 5-year-old thinks and you know what, I love it.  I love his imagination, his creative side and his heart.  He was so excited writing out those Valentine’s to all his classmates and I’m just as excited for him to receive them from his friends.

Another thing I love about Valentines Day is the candy and chocolate.  What can I say, I’m a sweet girl… I mean a sweets girl.  When I was younger my dad would always buy my the Cherry Cordials for ever y holiday and Valentine’s Day was no exception.  I loved those little candies as cherries are one of my favorite things and that gooey glaze that poured out of them was liquid gold! So when Valentine’s day rolls around, I always love to pop into the kitchen and bake up some sweets.

Do you guys have any Valentine’s day plans?  As for us, my kids are going to the in-laws for the weekend.  My husband and I are going out to dinner on Friday night and then coming home to binge watch the rest of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.  Who watches it?!  OMG, Tina Fey and Ellie Kemper are an amazing pair and quite frankly you cannot forget about Tituss Burgess.  That guy is amazing and I cannot stop walking around singing “Pinot Noir.”  If you haven’t seen it, put it on your must watch list immediately.  As for the rest of the weekend, we’ll be hanging out with friends, catching a band and lying low.  As soon as the kids return on Sunday, we’ll give them each their Valentine present we got them and have a heart shaped pizza.  My idea of a perfect Valentine’s Day.

Back to the cookies.  Truth be told, I had to make these cookies twice.  The first batch disappeared almost immediately leaving me zero time to pull out my camera and snap a few pictures.  The shortbread cookie base is the so buttery it’s just plain delicious.  I love shortbread anything and dipped in chocolate is even better.  I decided to add some chopped dried cranberries to the dough but I also think cherries would be amazing as well as strawberries.  Or if you are like my son and lucky enough to have a cool mom like me, you can bake them plain.  They’re just as good with or without the added fruit as the shortbread cookie has enough flavor to stand alone.

As for this second batch of cookies, as soon as I was finished photographing them, I promptly packed them up and sent them with my husband to work.  As I did with the recipe that is coming tomorrow (and it an absolute must make, immediately!)  I love that once I make something I can send them off to my husband’s work so everyone can enjoy the treats…well at least I hope they enjoy them, I know we did!

I loved that these cookies are so versatile.  As I mentioned before, you can bake them plain, add in fruit, chocolate chips and then you could dip them in dark chocolate and sprinkle on nuts.  It’s really up to you what you do with the cookies, but one thing is for sure, you must cut them into hearts, it is Valentine’s day after all!

Look how festive those White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies.  Don’t they just scream Valentine’s Day.  I bet your sweetie would love nothing more than freshly baked cookies from you this year.  You’ll show him or her that you know how to bake and that you took the time to make something extra special this year and that is what Valentine’s Day is all about.  Showing the ones you love, just how much you care.  Hallmark holiday or not, it’s fun, cute and just an extra reason to spread the love.

You can even wrapped these up into a cut little package and give them to your friends, neighbors and family.   Everyone loves a shortbread cookie and will appreciate you took the time ot think of them.  Just look at the inside of these White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies and how soft, delicate and with a touch of tart cranberry goodness.  Perfectly balanced with the white chocolate and sprinkles, I’d call these a match made in cookie Heaven goodness.

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White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies

Prep 10 mins

Cook 10 mins

Total 20 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 18

Surprise and delight your Valentine this season with these White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies. Nothing says I love you more than fresh home baked cookies shaped like hearts, dipped in white chocolate and covered in sprinkles!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 6 ounces good quality white chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
2. In a medium size bowl, combine flour, cornstarch and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer add butter and mix on medium speed for 1 minutes or until creamy.
4. Add in the sugar and beat until smooth and then add in extracts.
5. Slowly add in your dry ingredients, 1/2 cup at a time until all incorporated.
6. Fold in dried cranberries.
7. Wrap up your dough in plastic wrap, flatten slightly and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
8. Remove dough from refrigerator and on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it reaches 1/4" circle.
9. Using your heart cookie cutter, cut out as many hearts as will fit. (I reshaped and re-rolled the dough multiple times until I had used almost all the dough)
10. Place the heart cut outs onto prepared baking sheets and place into the refrigerator so they can firm up.
11. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
12. Cool on cookie sheets for 2-3 minutes and then move to a wire rack until cooled completely.
13. When the cookies have cooled, melt your chocolate using your preferred method.
14. When the chocolate has melted, dip in half your cookie and place on a piece of wax paper.
15. Sprinkle with nuts, sea salt, jimmies, perils or nothing at all.

Notes

Slightly Adapted from: Shortbread Cookies

Courses Cookie

Cuisine Dessert

Who needs diamonds when you have cookies?!  LOL!  Cozy in at home this Valentine’s day. Cook up a nice steak dinner, and then pair these White Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread Heart Cookies with a sweet sherry wine and binge watch your favorite show on Netflix this weekend!  You’re Valentine will thank you and you’ll be happy you didn’t wait 1 hour+ at that fancy steakhouse.  That’s our plan anyways!

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen  I love to see what you cook up!