Happy Valentine's Day Cookies & Chocolate Bark with Red Hots

This past Saturday was my first time to make chocolate bark with red hots, decorated sugar cookies on a stick and to welcome a group of favorite food bloggers in my home for a fun day of sharing food, conversation, baking and bonding.  First off I just have to say how impressed I am with the enthusiasm and creativity of this group.  I was able to use some very cute heart and mini letter cookie cutters that I had buried in a drawer in my kitchen.  Also, who knew how good red hots would be in a chocolate bark?  Gina from Spcookiequeen, Lisa from The Authentic Suburban Gourmet, Bonni from Chrysanthemum, Stephanie from The Baking Barrister, Gina's daughter and myself  made up our bakers group on Saturday.  We enjoyed a wonderful potluck spread which we needed to fuel us during all that strenuous baking and cookie decorating.  Gina brought a jar of her Blood Orange Jam which was amazing on her Meyer Lemon Bread.  Lisa shared her Stilton and Walnut Palmiers which I nibbled on while playing golf on Sunday.  Stephanie makes a killer leek confit which she serves on crostinis spread with soft goat cheese.  Bonni brought a unique Firecracker Thai Shrimp dish with a dipping sauce that my husband enjoyed later that evening.  I made another Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese Apple Quiche which goes so well  with a glass of chardonnay that I just couldn't resist sharing one with the group.  Once the freshly baked sugar cookies cooled on the racks the decorating began with white, pink, red and brown royal icing followed by all types of sprinkles, pearls, colored hearts and small cut out painted letters.  Love, Kiss, Hugs and No Hugs from Stephanie were some of the entertaining messages these special cookies will carry to our lucky Valentines.  And the gorgeous bark, now that is a fun chocolate candy to make and decorate!

Please follow the links to Gina's recipe for Valentine's Chocolate Bark at Spcookiequeen and a recipe from Epicurious for the Royal Icing.  Gina emailed me her recipe for Sugar Cookies so I could make the dough earlier in the week before our baking party.  I knew as soon as I wrapped the dough to chill in the fridge that I liked the feel of it and that it would be easy to roll out.  Just for fun and a little variety a little stick can easily be placed into the cut out hearts to make a cookie pop before baking.

Gina's Sugar Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 cups all purpose flour
 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Beat the butter until soft and lightened in color, add sugar, egg, flour, salt and almond extract.  Chill dough for 1-2 hours or overnight.  Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's 1/4" thick.(dough needs to be 1/4" thick for the cookies on a stick)  Use cookie cutters to cut out the dough.  Place the cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment or silpats.


Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

This was a fun day that we all agreed we will plan to do again soon.  I enjoyed participating in the decorating, styling and photographing of all our homemade treats on my dining room table.  I don't think I've ever had such pretty cookies and chocolate candy on my blog, thanks girls with lots of hugs and kisses!