[Recipe] "Shape of My Heart" Valentine's Day Black and Pink (White) Cookies

My holiday calendar is essentially one of food.  The Christmas season is full of roasts (vegetables, beef, and whole chickens, oh my!), Chinese New Year is for dumplings (more on my upcoming Chinese New Year dinner party in a future post), and Valentine's Day is for baking (and maybe heart-shaped pizzas, the most romantic couple food ever).

This Valentine's Day, I thought it would be cute to make that classic New York dessert, black and white cookies, from scratch-- but with red and pink food coloring and, obviously, with cookies shaped like hearts.

Soundtrack - Backstreet Boys - Shape of My Heart
I'm here with my confession
Got nothing to hide no more
I don't know where to start
But to show you the shape of my heart

I'm lookin' back on the things I've done
I never wanna play the same old part
Or keep you in the dark
Now let me show you the shape of my heart

"Shape of My Heart" Valentine's Day Black and Pink (White) Cookies
a recipe inspired by Smitten Kitchen
Makes 24 very large cookies or 4-5 dozen smaller ones

Cookie Base - Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
2-1/2 cups cake flour
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing - Ingredients
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
3 ounces very bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Instructions
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.
2.  In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter.  Mix by machine or hand until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, then milk and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth.  Scrape down bowl.

3.  In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir until mixed.  Add dry mixture to the wet mixture in batches, stirring well after each addition.

4.  Using a soup spoon, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.  Bake until edges begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes.  Cool completely.
5.  Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot.  Place confectioners' sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl.  Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture.  Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo.  Leave remaining boiling water on the stove.

6.  Split the frosting into two bowls, approximately 1/3 to 2/3.  In the bowl with more frosting, add red or pink food coloring and mix to your desired shade.  Spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie.

7.  Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of the remaining frosting (remember, you set some aside earlier) over the hot water and bring it back to a simmer (creating a double boiler).  Stir in the bitter of unsweetened chocolate until melted, as well as the light corn syrup.  At this point, depending on the chocolate you used and your preferences, you might find the chocolate color to be a little lighter than the "black" of a black-and-white cookie.  If so, mix in a tablespoon or more of cocoa.

8.  Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting.  If the frosting dries out, feel free to whisk in a small splash of water from time to time to smooth it back into a shiny frosting.

9.  Let the frosting set.  Store in an airtight container.  These cookies keep for a few days, although, because the bases are cakelike, they can get stale quickly.  Pro Tip:  You can also store your cookies with a slice of bread (white is preferable-- no other flavors transferred to the cookies) to keep them moist.