Cream Cheese Lemon Hearts

Valentine's Day is less than a week away. My youngest daughter has already completed all of her Valentine cards to her classmates and have brought them into school. I was the same way when I was her age.I always liked to give Valentine cards to everyone. I would even make one for my Mom.

I still really like to give Valentine's Day gifts. My husband leaves for work really early so I leave his box of chocolates in his cars so he will be "surprised"! Since I do this every year, I'm not sure he is really surprised anymore but he humors me. (It is also a good reminder for him about the day.) Guess what? He has never forgotten to give me something for Valentine's Day. 

I also give the children a small box of chocolate before school. On a normal day, the rule is no treats before 10:00 am. Valentine's Day is different so I allow one piece before school but only after they have eaten their breakfast.

My husband picked this recipe. The recipe is suppose to be bows but I just omitted the bottom part of the bow. I will give you a warning that the dough is thick so they are hard to pipe. I did make some as circles and some I just rolled into balls and flatten a little. These cookies are really good with a hint of lemon.

Cream Cheese Lemon Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp lemon zest, finely grated
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
powder sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
2. Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a medium bowl. 
3. Add the sugar and continue to cream.
4. Add the egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well.
5. Slowly, add the dry ingredients.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Add a small amount of dough to a piping bag. 
8. Pipe the dough using a large finely ribbed French tip (like Ateco #865).
9. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Let cool and dust with the powder sugar.
11. Cookies will store for up to 3 days in an air tight container at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies. 

Did you already know...........
-One legend about St. Valentine is there was a Bishop Valentine in Roman times who would perform secret marriages. He was later executed on Feb. 14th by the Emperor.
-On Feb. 15th, the Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia (a fertility festival) to honor the Roman God Faunas.