A lazy Sunday afternoon. Kiddo, hubby and I were lying down together on the floor, relaxing and just spending some good time together. I nested my head on hubby’s chest, closed my eyes, thinking happily about the little pleasures of life.

A couple of minutes later hubby asked me :”Did you read this morning’s news paper?”

“Errr……No”: I answered, wondering where this conversation was leading to!

Hubby: “There was this piece about this guy who pulled a temple elephant’s tail. The elephant got annoyed and pushed him away with its trunk. The guy fainted, but was revived and went home. Later he developed pain in his chest and died after sometime”

Me: “Okayyyyyyy…”, slowly understanding where it was going…

Hubby: “I mentioned it because if you don’t move your head from my chest soon, I might either faint or develop a pain there!!”

Me. red faced and totally embarrassed at being compared to an elephant, got up and left.

It’s the kiddo’s laughter that still haunts me!!

That may be the romance quotient at my place, but it needn’t be the same at yours! Try baking these cookies for your loved ones, to show how much you care (about the cookies, at least!)

This recipe is off to the 30 day long April Marathon, hosted by Valli. This recipe is same as the one for Stained Glass Cookies, with a different shape and minus the candy!

Recipe Source: My Diverse Kitchen

Makes: 4 dozen plus, depending on the size of cookies

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour  : 3 cups
• Baking powder      : 1.5 tsp
• Salt                            : 1/2 tsp
• Sugar                        :  1 cup
• Butter                       :  200 gm
• Milk                          :  3 tbsp
• Vanilla extract       :  1 tsp
• Cocoa Powder       :   2 tbsp

Method:

1. Bring butter to room temperature. It should be soft. I microwaved the block of butter in 10 sec intervals couple of times at 40% power. If you do this at 100% power, you will have ghee instead of softened butter!!
2. Beat butter and sugar together using a hand blender in a big bowl, till soft. Add vanilla essence and milk. Beat again.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this in batches to the butter mix and bring it all together into a dough, using your hands. You might have to add a little bit of milk, if necessary, if the dough is not coming together.
4. If you find that the dough is too soft for rolling, shape it into a disc and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes till its firm.
5. Divide the dough into four equal portions. Add cocoa powder to two portions. Knead till you get a uniform brown colour dough.
6. In a slightly floured surface or between two parchment papers. Roll one portion of vanilla dough (plain dough) and cocoa dough into 1/4″ thick.
7. Using the biggest cutter of a nested heart cookie cutter set, cut out cookies from both the dough. Cut out smaller cookies from this big cookie and interchange to get alternate colours.
8. Bake in a preheated oven, at 180C for 10-15 minutes, keeping an eye on it all the time. Once its baked, let it cool for sometime and gobble them down!

This recipe is off to Vardhini’s Bake Fest, hosted this month by Sowmya of Nivedhanam