Simple Heart Valentine's Cookies {Decorating how-to}

I love when a simple technique can be used to make something look extra special.  These heart Valentine's cookies are super easy to decorate, but yield impressive results. 

I started with a batch of Chocolate roll-out cookie dough.  I used a medium sized heart cutter to cut my shapes, then a small heart to cut out the center.  You can bake up the mini hearts, or roll the dough back together to make more hearts with cut-outs. 

When your cookies are baked and cooled, prepare a batch of Royal Icing.  To copy this design, you'll only need two bags of icing, one red and one white, both in a medium consistency.  Certainly, adding pink details to these cookies would be beautiful as well. 

How to create a string of hearts with icing...

1.  Outline the cookies (as shown).  Allow the outline to set up a bit (about 30 minutes). 

2.  Flood cookie with white icing. 

3.  Immediately, add dots (as shown). 

4.-6.  As soon as dots have settled into the white icing (about 30 seconds), drag a toothpick from the top center of the heart cookie, through the first dot.  Continue dragging the toothpick through all of the dots on one half of the cookie, in one continuous motion (as seen above).

7.  Repeat on the other side of the cookie, starting at the top, drag a toothpick through the dots. 

8.  Allow cookies to dry (about 8 hours). 

9.  Share with someone you love  =)

Happy Decorating!