Baseball Valentine Cookies

You're a Homerun! Please don't let me Strike Out! I hope our love goes Extra Innings!

You're a Hit!

Don't throw me a Curve Ball! 

I love you at Home or Away!  

You've Stolen my heart!  

We make a great Team!

{Let's skip the whole "getting to second base" theme.}

As the mom of a boy, I know they usually get the short end of the stick when it comes to Valentine's Day.  Not everything has to be pink, and ribbons, and lace (and I love those things)!
Valentines for boys can be cute, too!!!

 {image: Decorating Cookies}

In Decorating Cookies, I created some Heart Robot cookies...which is one of my favorite designs in the whole book.  Yay for boy valentines!  

Today...Baseball Valentines.

{These cookies were inspired by this Valentine from Minted....how cute is that card?!?}

To make baseball valentine cookies, you'll need:

• baseball themed and heart cut-out sugar cookies
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Bright White, Warm Brown, and Super Red
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and tips: #2, #1
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• fan (paint) brush
• paper towel
• AmeriColor Chocolate Brown

Using #2 tips, outline all of the cookies.  Outline the caps and hearts in white and the bats in brown.

Thin the brown and white icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the white icing for piping details later.) You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles.

Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles. 

Let the cookies dry for 30 minutes to one hour.

Use #1 tips to add detail piping to the caps and the heart "baseballs." I like to make the stitching into little hearts.

Let the cookies dry 6-8 hours or overnight.

Once they are completely dry, mix water with the chocolate brown food coloring....a 1 to 1 ratio or so.  Trim the fan brush, so that it is uneven.  Dip the brush into the food coloring mixture, dab the excess on a paper towel and brush onto the cookies.

The food coloring will dry fairly quickly and be ready for packaging and giving.

Can we make heart-shaped baseballs a thing?

*portions of this post were originally published 2-13-13.