Instead of buying bags upon bags of mini candy to hand out with our Valentine's Day cards at school we've gone old school here. We will be handing out homemade Valentine's Sugar Cookies.

If you’re like us, the sweetness of the premade sugar cookie dough with added icing for decoration is enough to make your teeth ache and kids jittery for 24 hours. Have no fear; I have the perfect solution to curb the sugar overload ... Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies. I found this recipe a few years ago when I purchased Martha Day's Complete Baking book. This baking book is packed full of over 400 recipes and at nearly 1 1/2" thick so it's not for the 'short on recipe book space' baker.

The way this recipe reads in the book you'd be sifting & creaming in the first few steps but let's be honest, I rarely have the time or patience for these techniques. I haven't had any problems with just throwing everything into the large mixer all at once and letting it mix to sugar cookie dough consistency.

I will however give you one simple 'no fail' tip: let your cookie dough chill in the fridge for a minimum of one hour before shaping and baking. In fact, it you want to let it sit over night and bake them the next day (typical here) even better!

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Cover and refrigerate for one hour or overnight.

Roll out dough on flour surface to a minimum of 1/8 inch thickness.

  *note: I roll them to 1/4 thick to give them the purchased from the bakery appeal

Cut out into rounds or other desired shapes.

Preheat oven to 350F.