Low Fat Valentine Cookies - cooking recipe

Ingredients

For cookie
5 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted for work surface
For glaze
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon juice, from defrosted dark sweet cherry
pink sugar, for decorating if desired

Preparation

For cookie: Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and almond extract, mixing well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add flour mixture into butter and sugar until dough forms. The dough may seem a little crumbly at first; but it will come together.
Wrap dough in plastic and shape into a disk. Chill for two hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Sprinkle work surface and rolling pin with confectioners sugar. Turn out one half of dough onto it.
Roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness.
Use heart-shaped cookie cutters dipped in confectioners sugar to make cutouts.
Gather scraps and re-roll until all the dough is used. While the first batch are baking is a good time to repeat the rolling and cutting process with the second half of the dough.
Place cookies 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Transfer to wire rack after 1 minute to cool.
For glaze: In a small bowl, mix together confectioners sugar, almond extract, and milk. Put 2 tablespoons of this white glaze in a small resealable bag and set aside.
Add cherry juice to the remaining glaze mixture and if you want to make a darker pink add another teaspoon of juice.
When cookies are fully cooled, frost and decorate as desired.
Makes about 30 cookies, depending on the size of cookie cutters used. Enjoy!