“Cupid, draw back your bow! And let your arrow go-ohhhh! Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me-eeeee-eee!” Erhem. Pardon me. I never can resist an opportunity to belt out Sam Cooke, especially when the day calls for a soundtrack that name-checks that chubby little archery-happy cherub who gets his kicks from knocking poor souls stupid with lurve. Now then, to the serious business of showing the ones you love a little appreciation!
Sometimes it’s the little things that show you care that mean the most. This year, I couldn’t resist buying an elementary school style box of dorky kids’ Valentine’s cards and doling them out to my crew. But when I’d written them out, cards alone didn’t seem quite sufficient to say what I really meant to say. And so, as it so often is, baking turned out to be the solution.
I whipped up a batch of the worlds’ easiest sugar cookies (get the recipe here)—heart-shaped, natch—and decorated them with Royal icing in holiday-appropriate shades of pink. I popped a cookie in adorable little cellophane bags along with the cards—mine were Valentine’s specific, but clear cellophane gift bags with a curl of red ribbon is perfect, too! It’s for spontaneous bouts of gifting that I always keep little cellophane bags on hand with my wrapping supplies. And then I set out to give Cupid a little assist by leaving these little goodies on various doorsteps for members of my inner circle to find when they came home, if I wasn’t able to deliver in person.
Seriously, these are cute enough to eat.
So wherever you are, however you’re feeling this Valentine’s Day, all I can say is, a little goodie bag and a heart-shaped sugar cookie never hurt anybody. Hell, even if you’re not brimming over with good vibrations and the warm fuzzies right now, being the agent of brightening someone’s day and making a goodie bag can—forgive me—turn that frown upside down and help you channel your inner Cupid’s helper, too. Now go on, spread the love, and crank that Sam Cooke!
