Jan 29, 2018, Updated Feb 10, 2022 These chocolate sugar cookies are perfect for any holiday-related cookie cutter escapades, but they seem particularly perfect for Valentines Day. I love how the royal icing pops against the rich cocoa brown. They’re just like regular sugar cookies in the rolling, chilling, cutting out process. But chocolate. Which means better. Right? I got a jump on Valentine’s Day treats because I had pretty much a month solid of stress-baking. It’s favourite coping technique. See, we have been researching a move – going to open houses every weekend, studying up on schools and preschools, assessing commutes, and everything else that goes with a big relocation. Do you know what it’s like going to open houses with a two year old? Give a kitten a shot of espresso and set him loose in a field of catnip. You’ll see. I think the last I told you we were exploring neighbourhoods. Well, we picked one. We’re officially trading beloved cityscapes and urban marinas for snow-capped mountains, 100-foot-tall temperate rainforest trees, cozy ocean coves, and (from what I’m told) even more precipitation than rainy Vancouver.
This has been a consuming decision for me, something on my mind for years. I knew I wanted something less urban (!) for my kids once they started school. But where to live when you have no extended family around to anchor you, when every choice ends in a dreaded commute, in an obscenely expensive market, can drive a person crazy. (This person, at least. I’ve had less dramatic friends very successfully make much quicker decisions.) So, where are we moving? If you follow my Instagram stories, I post videos along the Sea-to-Sky Highway every time we drive it. The community we chose is along that route, on the beautiful Howe Sound fjord that I can’t resist, nestled between sea and mountain. I’m excited. It is a really major move for us. It’s farther from the city that we would have liked. There are bear locks on the garbage cans. The only friends we have over there are moving away 2 weeks after we arrive. I’ll have to drive my butt down a highway to a grocery store instead of walking for 5 minutes. Not to mention my husband commuting to work instead of taking a leisurely 10-minute trot.
But you know what? I feel resolved, and almost unnervingly calm. To be honest, I feel like I had divine guidance. And the beauty of the place just pulls me like a magnet. In any case, it really feels right in my gut. Wish us luck? Meanwhile, cookies. ALL THE CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES. My big tip for handling rolled cookies is to use your freezer as a tool. Whenever the dough is too soft to lift a cookie shape without squishing it, amputating it, or otherwise reducing its perfection, just slide the whole thing onto a rimless baking sheet and pop it in the freezer until it has firmed up a bit – just a few minutes.
