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Cut Out Cookie Hearts
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An Old Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

A cut-out sugar cookie recipe. This recipe is an old one and for whatever reason, it calls for a 400 degree oven. Using a 400 degree oven means you have to keep a close eye on the cookies, but they do come out nice and crispy if you pull them at just the right moment. If your oven runs a little hot or if you want to bake at a more leisurely temp, 375 works well.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword sugar cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 40
Author Cookie Madness

Ingredients

  • 1 cup shortening
  • 4 cups all purpose flour (460 grams)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
  • ¼ cup whole milk or reduced fat milk with a teaspoon of cream mixed in
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla plus a little almond extract if desired
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Have ready two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
  • In a large bowl, cut the shortening into the flour. I did this by hand, but you could probably use a food processor. Add the salt and stir well.
  • Combine the eggs and sugar in a second bowl and beat well – I did this with a hand-held mixer.
  • Combine the milk, vanilla and baking soda in a small cup.
  • Add the egg mixture and the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until it’s all blended and you have a dough. At this point I chilled mine for about half an hour, but the recipe doesn’t say you have to.
  • On a floured surface, roll a half or a quarter (I never roll it all at once) into a ¼ inch thick slab and cut out shapes. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until your cookies are golden brown (these get quite brown) and appear set. Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.
  • Ice with royal frosting or butter cream.

Notes

Yield will vary, but a half batch gave me about 20 2-inch hearts.
Linda has made this recipe with various ratios of shortening to butter and believes that the all-shortening version gives the best texture. If you like the flavor of Butter Flavored Crisco, you could try using that, but I thought the vanilla and almond were flavorful enough and didn't miss the butter flavor. Besides, you could put a lot of butter in the frosting. These cookies really do need a frosting of some sort.