These heart-shaped Valentine sugar cookies have a subtle orange zest and the perfect balance in texture -- not too crisp and not too soft. With a beautiful red jelly filling, they make the perfect gift for any holiday.
Cream the sugar and shortening in a mixer until well blended.
Add the eggs, and continue to mix until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and grated peel, and mix thoroughly.
Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Gradually, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the teaspoons of milk.
Divide the mixture into half or quarters. Chill the dough for one hour.
Roll and cut cookies
Begin rolling out one cluster of dough at a time to about 1/8-inch thickness, leaving the remaining dough chilled until ready.
Using the larger of the two cookie cutters, cut heart shapes in the dough. Then use the smaller cookie cutter to create a smaller heart cutout on half of the cookies. This will be the "window" for the jelly filling.
On the large heart shapes (without the cutout), spread a thin layer of jelly to cover, leaving about a 1/8-inch border from the edge.
Sprinkle a light coating of white sugar sprinkles on the plain heart-shaped cookies, if desired.
Bake
Place the cookies onto a greased cookie sheet or non-stick plan. (You can also opt to use parchment paper or a silicone mat.)
For the smaller heart shape cutouts, you can either leave them as smaller cookies or combine them with the remaining dough to continue making the larger heart cookies.
Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes until they turn slightly golden.
Remove the cookies from the oven, place them on a cooling rack, and "sandwich" the plain heart and jelly heart. Sprinkle with more granulated sugar sprinkles, if desired.
Notes
Baking times will vary depending on the thickness of the cookie and cookie sheet used. I recommend aluminum cookie sheets for more even heating.