Rylie Horrall  | Lifestyle Editor

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so why not take the opportunity to try out some fun Valentine’s desserts? An easy one to try is cookies — dive into this recipe to make something sweet for that special someone in mind.

LINZER COOKIES

Start to finish: ~1 hour and 40 minutes

Serving size: 40 cookies

1 ½ cups butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon kosher salt

3 ½ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup raspberry or strawberry preserves

½ cup powdered sugar

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together on medium speed for two minutes. Add in the vanilla and salt and mix until combined.

Turn mixer to low and add in the flour, mixing until combined.

Remove the dough, flatten it into a disk and wrap in cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Dust a clean counter with flour and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick.

Cut out the dough using a round two-inch biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. In half of the rounds, cut out a circle (or shape) in the centers. You can use a small cookie cutter, or even the back of a piping tip.

Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. When the oven is preheated, remove the baking sheet from the freezer and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, spread about one teaspoon of preserves on the bottoms of the solid cookies. Gently press the cut out cookies on top of the preserves.

Dust all the cookies with powdered sugar.

Recipe from cookiesandcups.com

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Amber Horrall