Favourite Feminist Conversation Heart Cookies
Happy Galentine’s Day!
It’s February 13th, and today is all about ladies celebrating ladies! When Julie and I hosted our Galentine’s Day party last weekend these sweet little “conversation heart” style cookies got gobbled up. These are quick to make and easy to decorate even if you aren’t much of an artist!
I got my cookie stamps from Michaels eons ago but something like this would work just the same! You can use your favourite sugar cookie recipe for the base (I would not recommend the Martha Stewart one I used as the cookies shrunk rather than spread when baking) and fondant for the top. Rather than buy pre-made fondant I actually made homemade marshmallow fondant for this recipe which is super easy!
Ingredients
Your favourite rolled sugar cookie dough (or other rolled cookie dough of your choice)
Mini-marshmallows
4 cups powdered sugar plus more for dusting surface
2 tbsp vanilla extract (or flavouring of choice)
Recipe Steps
1. Make the cookies of your choice and cut them out using a heart shaped cookie cutter. Most recipes for rolled and cut sugar cookies will advise you to pop the cut cookies into the fridge or freezer before baking as this stops them from spreading. In this case you actually want the cookie to be slightly larger than the topper heart so you can skip this step, or if your dough feels very warm and not at all solid you can pop them in the fridge for just a few minutes.
2. Melt a bag of mini-marshmallows in a microwave-safe bowl with a couple tablespoons of water. Zap it in short intervals and stir as needed until you have one melted bowl of marshmallow soup.
3. With a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, or kneading by hand, add in 3-4 cups of powdered sugar until you reach a smooth, pliable, not-too-sticky consistency. At this stage you can also add the vanilla or other flavouring.
4. Liberally dust your clean work surface, rolling pin, and cookie cutter with powdered sugar. Transfer the fondant to your work surface and knead in the colouring of your choice by hand before rolling out to a quarter inch thickness.
5. Cut the fondant into heart shapes with the same cutter you used for the cookies. Once your cookies spread slightly they’ll be just larger than the fondant hearts.
6. Stamp the cookies with the message of your choice. Notes for your friends and loved ones, conversation heart messages, or your favourite inspirational ladies (real and fictional!).
7. Once the cookies are cooled spread a few drops of water on the back of a heart to make it sticky enough to adhere to the cookie. Store completed cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to one week (or as dictated by original recipe).
All of our friends got a huge kick out of these and it was a sweet way to honor some of our favourite ladies this Galentine’s Day! These would be even sweeter with the name of a birthday boy or girl, or to mark any other occasion like a graduation, retirement, wedding, or anniversary. The possibilities are endless!
