I think I’m getting the hang of this baking thing. I’m not to the point of formulating my own recipes without guidance, but at least I’m not burning cookies or making gelatinous pumpkin bread (yeah, that happened). Thus far, I’ve made a successful batch of pseudo-biscuits and whole wheat pizza dough. Today, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I ventured into the sweeter realm of baking…for my sweetie. Heh.

As I said, I’m not familiar enough with the proportions of baking to whip together a recipe on the fly, so I turned to my most trusted source of food knowledge—food bloggers, of course.

Eventually, I landed on Joy the Baker’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies. Quite a mouthful for a name, but the recipe seemed simple enough that even I could handle it.

The plain heart-shaped cookies weren’t quite festive enough for me, so I improvised a strawberry frosting recipe to make a (naturally!) pink decoration. The first experiment was a total failure, but once I added a little butter in the mix, I was able to create an acceptable product. Funny how butter makes things taste so much better

So here’s the recipe for a sorta-good-for-you Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies with Strawberry Frosting.

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies with Strawberry Frosting

Chocolate Cut Outs adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes approximately 12-24 cookies; varies according to size of cookie cutters

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1large egg
• Strawberry Frosting (see below)

Method

See Joy’s recipe.

A few notes:

*I chilled the dough for just 30 minutes, and had no issues in rolling it out.

*Because I did not have any parchment paper, I just baked the cookies on non-stick baking sheets.

*Once cookies cooled completely, I spread about 1-2 teaspoons of frosting on each. Decorate as desired.

  

Strawberry Frosting

Makes approximately 1 cup*

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup softened butter (1/2 stick)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons skim milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, thawed**

Method

1. Puree the strawberries until smooth. Set aside.

2. Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy.

3. Add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until well combined.

4. Beat in strawberry puree to the sugar mixture until smooth.

Notes

*This recipe makes way more frosting than you’ll need for the cookies, even if you really lay it on thick. Refrigerate leftovers immediately.

**This recipe really works best with frozen strawberries because you need the extra moisture from the berries’ juices. If you choose to use fresh strawberries, be aware that you might need to add some water to make it puree properly.

Nutrition per cookie (1/18th recipe): 100 Calories, 5.9g fat, 24mg cholesterol, 39mg sodium, 13.3g carbohydrate, 1.7g fiber, 5.4g sugars, 2.0g protein

Nutrition per 2 teaspoons frosting: 58 Calories, 1.9g fat, 5mg cholesterol, 1mg sodium, 10.3g carbohydrate, 0.1g fiber, 10.0g sugars, 0.1g protein

    

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

Filed under: Holiday, Recipe