Gifts

The Best, Most Reliable Valentine's Day Cookie

February  7, 2016

My worst Valentine’s Day happened in second grade. This was the age when we still passed out valentines to the entire class, everyone coming away with fistfuls of cards and boxes of powdery-sweet conversation hearts.

Photo by Posie Harwood

I spent a week carefully crafting my valentines. My mother, a proponent of homemade everything, helped me select doilies and glitter and markers. I sat cross-legged, earnestly focused on cutting and pasting my cards.

February of 1995 was exceptionally snowy. We lived on a farm set back from the main road down a long hilly driveway. When the weather was at its worst, we leave our car near the road; otherwise, we’d never make it to school.

Photo by Posie Harwood

Valentine’s Day brought storms and sleet. In the morning, I gathered together my cards and placed them gently in a cardboard box. My mother bundled us up in winter coats, scarves, and thick mittens. I strapped on my backpack and stepped out into the swirling snow with my three sisters.

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We trudged slowly up the half mile-long driveway, making slow progress. There was a frigid wind biting at my face. I held my box of cards stiffly in front of me, squinting my eyes and keeping a fixed gaze on our car.

Photo by Posie Harwood

A third of the way through, I slipped on a slick patch of ice. Down I went, my arms splayed, my cards spilling onto the snow. The wind swept them away, scattering them across the snow-covered cornfield.

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Top Comment:
“If not, this recipe will be my life saver for my upcoming Valentine's Day dinner party. Has anyone ever done Malgieri's version??”
— Shelley S.
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I felt hot tears prickling behind my eyes. How many hours had I spent making those? My sisters scrambled into the field, gathering up as many cards as they could. But I could see they were already ruined: The marker ran in wet streaks, the paper was sodden and ripped.

My heart still twinges when I picture my second-grade self, tiny and freezing out in the snow, stoic-faced with a trembling lower lip. But despite the trauma, I’d do it all over again and here’s why: There’s something incredibly meaningful about homemade gifts, and I'll always prefer homemade for the pleasure it brings (both giving and receiving).

Photo by Posie Harwood

Ever since 1995, I’ve made a serious effort to make every Valentine’s Day a rousing success. Tricky baking projects and complicated dinner menus are off the table: I’m not in the business of inviting disaster on February 14.

Instead, I’ve found the perfect cookie. Delicious, easy-to-wrap, and beautifully festive, linzer cookies are pretty foolproof. The addition of almond flour gives the cookies a nutty flavor and firm, sable-like texture. Perfumed with lemon zest and ground cinnamon, the dough freezes nicely and is easy to make ahead of time.

Photo by Posie Harwood

You can skip the heart shapes if you want and use a round cookie cutter. You can even skip the cutout bit, and just sandwich the jam between two solid cookies.

If you even wanted to forgo filling in favor of dipping the cookies in dark chocolate or spreading them with lemon curd, well, I won’t stop you.

Take it from me: If you want to avoid any and all Valentine’s-related disappointment, make these cookies. Give them to someone you love, or savor them slowly by yourself at home, as a sweet antidote to any Valentine’s disaster from years past.

Share a Valentine's Day sob story with us in the comments below.

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Anna Danger Fantana
    Anna Danger Fantana
  • Holly Clegg
    Holly Clegg
  • HDeffenbaugh
    HDeffenbaugh
  • Shelley Sorani
    Shelley Sorani
  • judy
    judy
I like warm homemade bread slathered with fresh raw milk butter, ice cream in all seasons, the smell of garlic in olive oil, and sugar snap peas fresh off the vine.

7 Comments

Anna D. February 13, 2016
I'd like to make these for someone who is allergic to almonds. Can I substitute with all purpose flour?
 
Holly C. February 11, 2016
These look so yummy! I just made my Blonde Brownies for Valentine's Day with red and pink M&M's!

Holly Clegg
TheHealthyCookingBlog.com
 
HDeffenbaugh February 10, 2016
I can't wait to bring these into the office for the holiday!
 
Shelley S. February 10, 2016
How funny to find this recipe this morning! Last night I prepped an almost identical recipe for Linzer Cookies from Nick Malgieri's cookie book. His recipe includes no liquid (or eggs) and probably uses just the stick of butter to bind lots of flour and ground almonds. It was devishly hard to make a dough from all that dry stuff and the dough is still in the fridge resting since I went to bed to rest after the stress. Can't wait to see if they actually bake up. If not, this recipe will be my life saver for my upcoming Valentine's Day dinner party. Has anyone ever done Malgieri's version??
 
judy February 10, 2016
I'll try this recipe, it looks good! And, I'll forward the story on to my three sisters!
 
Jamie K. February 10, 2016
I would prefer to receive anything home-made... And luckily my kids understand this about me. They also like to make gifts for others. As a chef and a Mom it makes me especially happy to see the joy the get out of making things specially for others.
 
Good D. February 8, 2016
Beautifully enduring story! Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to make these pretty cookies!