Sugar Cookies and Fudge

Valentine's Day isn't celebrated here in Brazil, but my husband and I thought we'd give some Valentine cookies and fudge to some of our friends and fellow ex-pats. I also thought it would be fun to have my son (age two and a bit) help with decorating a cookie or two for himself and a friend. I don't have a go-to sugar cookie recipe, so I was excited to find this one from Alton Brown. I usually trust his recipes, and his show is pretty awesome, so I gave it a whirl.

Let me just say this: sugar cookies are a pain. Refrigerate. Roll out, but don't overwork. Curse under your breath as you have clearly overworked the dough after not being able to roll it out because it was too refrigerated. All that, and I have yet to find a dough that tastes good (which didn't stop me from eating it). Sigh.

These turned out fine and were made downright awesome by the addition of my mom's buttercream frosting (beat a stick of butter, add about 1/4 bag powdered sugar, 1-2 T. milk, 1 t. or so vanilla. Beat. Add more powdered sugar, about another 1/4 of the bag, until you reach desired consistency. Add a little more milk if your frosting gets too stiff). I used red and a smidge of blue food coloring to make a nice pink frosting for our heart cookies. I used pink/white, chocolate, and star-shaped sprinkles, and my husband and I went to town decorating. My son insisted on placing each star by poking his finger into the frosting. We had fun, but sugar cookies will only happen once or twice a year.

By comparison, the fudge was ridiculously easy. I used the sweetened condensed milk version that doesn't require a candy thermometer or any real difficulty whatsoever. It was good, but a little firm for my taste. I'd like to try real fudge sometime too. My copy of The Joy of Cooking has one that seems doable. The fudge could have been adapted to have nuts inside or pretzels on top. You could also marble in some sweetened condensed milk before the fudge sets to give some visual interest. Seasonal sprinkles would be fun too.

Our friends enjoyed the cookies and fudge (and the Star Wars valentines we included), and we had a nice time decorating and spending time together. However, I'd like to try a softer fudge and only give cookies whose dough doesn't require refrigeration.

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