"Sealed with a Kiss" Valentine's Day Lips Sugar Cookies

How to make the cookies:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick silicone baking mat and set aside.
3. Using a standing mixer, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and egg. Mix until creamy and well combined.
4. In a separate large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.
5. Gradually add in the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients as you mix on low speed. If needed, finish mixing by hand.
6. Finish kneading dough by hand until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
7. Lightly flour a cutting board and knead the cookie dough a few times.
8. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness.
9. Use your lip-shaped cookie cutter to cut out your cookies until you're out of dough. Bake for 8 minutes until just until a light golden brown. (Cutting and baking in batches may save you from waiting to bake them all at the end).
10. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

To make the icing:

1. Using the standing mixer, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla and powder sugar and mix until well combined and stiff peaks form.
2. Scoop a small amount of the plain white icing (about 2 Tablespoons) into a piping bag and set aside.
3. Add in a few drops of the red food coloring into the remaining icing and mix until combined. You want to end up with a rich, fire engine red color.
4. Scoop about 1/3rd of the red icing into another piping bag and set aside.
5. Add a few tablespoons of water into the red icing still in the bowl and stir until the consistency thins slightly.
6. Pour this thinner red icing into a plastic squeeze bottle.

To decorate the lip-shaped cookies:

1. Using the red piping bag, draw an outline around the top half of the cookies. Fill in this outline with the thinner red icing. Allow to dry overnight, or until almost completely set.
2. Draw an outline around the bottom half of the cookie with the thick red icing, just as you did with the top half. Fill in with thin red icing and allow to dry completely.
3. Using the white icing, add detail to the lips. (You want to make it look like they have a shine to them).
4. Allow to dry completely.