Jar of Hearts: Sugar Cookie Recipe

I am so excited about my next big cooking venture. I will be co-teaching some cooking classes for kids at a great little restaurant called Relish.  They contacted me in November to ask if it was something I would be interested in, and I replied "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" "Sure, I would love to".
Our first round of classes will begin in February.  One is called "Jar of Hearts", in which kids will be
decorating sugar-cookies-on-a-stick and making Valentine's Day Bouquets for Mom.  So precious.  The second class is called Primo Pasta Party, where kids will be making home-made ravioli along with a salad and dessert.  So much fun!  I did a trial run of both this weekend.  The cookies turned out to be not too shabby if I do say so myself.  The ravioli...well it needs a whole 'nother post all on its own.

The recipe for sugar cookies hasn't changed since my last post you can find here.  HOWEVER, I did get a bit creative and do a little switch-a-roo.  I swapped the vanilla extract for half almond, and half cinnamon extracts.  It happened to be a great choice.  I highly recommend it.

One question/vent session...Why is that Christmas stuff makes it's debut in stores a whopping 4 months before the actual holiday, but ONE month before Valentine's day, the shelves are empty?  (well, Harris Teeter and Food Lion shelves are empty. That was the extent of my venturing.)  I wanted to fill the jars with conversation hearts for the bouquets, but there aren't any out yet.  I opted for the only reasonable alternative I could think of...Jordan Almonds and pastel mints.  Not quite the same effect, but cute nonetheless.

The final bouquets will have some ribbon attached to "love" coupons.