Mickey's Chocolate-Dipped Valentine Cookies

What you'll need

• Batch of sugar cookie dough (homemade or store-bought) *
• Red food coloring
• Disposable food preparation gloves (for kneading food coloring into the dough)
• Plastic wrap
• Rolling pin
• Flour
• Wax paper
• Heart cookie cutter (about 2.5 inches wide)
• Baking sheets
• Cooling rack
• Dark cocoa candy melts
• Small microwavable mixing bowl
• White licorice candies (such as Good & Plenty) - two for each cookie
• Toothpick

* If the store-bought brand of dough you use is too soft to hold the cookie shapes while baking, you can knead in a little extra flour to stiffen it before rolling it out.

How to make it

1. Knead red food coloring into the cookie dough. Then flatten the dough into a disk and wrap it tightly in plastic. Chill the dough until firm.
2. Heat the oven. Working on a flour-dusted sheet of wax paper, roll out the chilled dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut heart shapes from the dough. Bake the cookies according to the recipe directions and then let them cool completely.
3. Melt a cup or so of the candy melts in the microwave according to the package directions.
4. Dip the top of each heart in the melted chocolate (if needed, gently scrape the back of the cookie against the rim of the bowl to remove any excess coating). Place the dipped cookies on a wax paper-lined tray.
5. For the finishing touch, use dabs of the leftover melted candy (applied with the tip of a toothpick) to attach a pair of white licorice candy "buttons" to the lower portion of each heart.