Chocolate {Valentine} Cutout Cookies

Instructions

1. Cream together the butter and sugars for 2 minutes.
2. Scrape the bowl and cream the mixture for an additional minute. Beat in the egg, coffee, or liqueur, and vanilla.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture 1 cup at a time to the butter mixture. Mix well.
4. Divide the dough into two or three large balls and place in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours (if you’re in a hurry, you can chill the dough for about 20 minutes in the freezer).
5. Once the dough is chilled, work with one ball of dough at a time, and roll onto a lightly floured surface (I like to dust my surface with powdered sugar instead of flour). Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough, and then roll out the dough. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet.
6. Bake cookies 6 to 8 minutes at 350° F. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Icing

1. Ice with Royal Icing. Color with Americolor Super Red and Americolor Deep Pink