{Valentine} Easy Linzer Heart Cookies

What is it about Valentine's Day that makes me want to bake sugary pink food?! First Cupcakes in a Jar, and now Linzer cookies. Most of you are thinking, 'What the heck is a Linzer? It sounds like something from Ikea.' To be fair, I had no idea that these cookies were called Linzers...I just knew I wanted to make those heart-shaped cookie thingies with jelly in the middle and sugar on top. And that's exactly what I googled, 'heart-shaped jelly cookie thingies.' That Google is a smarty-pants, she knew exactly what I was talking about.

All the recipes I found were fairly complicated, and we don't do complicated around here. We do cheap, easy and fast. TWSS So I made the Clif Notes of Linzers, and they are dee-vine!! All you need is sugar cookie dough, jam, powdered sugar and two sizes of heart-shaped cookie cutters. You can make your own dough, but why mess with what Pillsbury has perfected?

Roll your chilled, very firm dough about 1/8-inch thick on a heavily floured surface, and make hearts using the largest cookie cutter. After transferring them to the pan, use the smaller heart to cut the center out of half your cookies. Refrigerate the dough scraps between batches.

Bake in 350-degree oven for 8-10 minutes. You want these slightly underdone so they aren't crispy. After the cookies have cooled on a rack, generously dust the heart outlines (tops) with powered sugar, and spread jam on the solid hearts (bottoms). I love them best with raspberry, but any flavor, even Nutella, would work. If you're Martha Stewart, you'll likely heat the jelly and push it through a sieve to remove any seeds. But seeds don't bother me, and these are the quick and easies, right!? It does help to stir the jam so it's more spreadable.

Sandwich the two halves and try not to lick the jam smooshing from the sides.

Marvel at your gorgeous cookies...then Git in Mah Belly!

The kids helped me, and couldn't get them in their mouths fast enough, so before we inhaled ate them all, I decided to package some up as teacher/neighbor/friend gifts. I layered the cookies in heart-shaped boxes, with paper doilies in between. I found these materials at JoAnn Fabrics, but saw similar at the dollar store, too.

I made mini-sandwiches using the cut-out centers. Cute as buttons, I tell ya!

To package these little babies, I trimmed the top of a wax bag (left over from the Pancake & Pajama party) with pinking shears, folded it over and looped baker's twine through holes punched in the bag.

They are so light, with just the perfect amount of sweet. I'm dreaming of one now...too bad they are long gone. Have you heard of Linzer's before? What's your favorite Valentine sweet to make?