Bakers, can you tell me if my idea will work?

First of all I’m not a baker, but you do know you’re putting a lot of effort into this right? I mean I would be content with store bought cookies, you made him a freaking wardrobe already ;)

As far as I know, if you make the dough yourself it will fill out when heated. Are you sticking to that recipe? because in the picture you can clearly see that they put wads of dough in there that shapes itself when baked.

I would definitely use a little more cookie dough than the recipe calls for, since those are regular-size muffin cups (twice as much would probably do it, but you might need a little more than that). I’d definitely press it with your fingers so it spreads into the different sections of the heart – it’ll spread some on its own, but if you just put a lump of dough in the middle, it probably won’t spread all the way into the top end of the heart.

The best thing to do is probably to do a test batch of three or four cookies with a few different methods (different amounts of dough, spreading and not spreading), and see which one works best. The idea is good, though – you’ll just have to perfect the method. Good luck!

Fyi, you can make these cookies without the muffin cups too – just take the dough and roll it into 1-inch balls and put them on a cookie sheet. The dough will spread into flatter rounds as it bakes, and then when you press the candy in, it’ll flatten it even more. I make peanut butter blossoms all the time – the linked recipe is from scratch, but it should work with pre-made dough too!

@markyy: Yes, I know I’m putting a lot of effort into it. That’s sort of the point, right? Store bought cookies don’t really convey the same message :)

@sdeutsch: I’ve seen them done without cups too, but since I saw the damned heart cups, I’m on a mission! lol.. thanks for the suggestions!

Some doughs spread more than others. Typically, chocolate chip dough almost liquifies and flows, then stiffens up further along in baking. Peanut butter cookies expand a bit, but don’t really flow at all (which is why you mash them with a fork to spread them, and the fork marks stay put). Sugar cookie-type doughs also don’t flow. Brownie batter flows

So unless you know you’ve got a “flowy” dough, mash it around a bit in the cup so it’ll get up into the “bumps” of the heart.

I bought Wilton silicone hearts for a care-package too!! It was for my best friend, I actually sent her the baking cups! :D
(I agree with @Harp as far as the question.)

@La_chica_gomela: the website shows a mold of mini hearts, but the store didn’t have it. I would’ve gone back for that instead!

@Harp: Thank you so much! That’s exactly what I was looking for. :) I would think peanut butter cookies would flow because peanut butter melts so easily, but since I don’t know phooey about baking unless you’re talking about boxes or refrigerated doughs, I’ll trust your advice!

@poofandmook: Once you get to the part of peanut butter cookie making where you are shaping the cookies, it becomes very clear that they won’t be moving a lot in the baking process. Especially if you have pictures of the finished product to compare your pre-baked product to—they don’t really move at all. It’s why the fork marks show up perfectly post-baking.

I wish someone would send me some heart-shaped muffin cups. Or some cookies. I could use a good cookie right now.

You probably have gotten all the advice you need, but I would reiterate that you should experiment with a small amount of dough before going for broke and making a huge amount. I do know that store-bought dough and the cookies that result from the recipe on the side of the chocolate chips bag will flow nicely.

To make a cookie “flow” more you need to add more shortening. Thus if your peanut butter cookie recipe doesn’t flow very well, try it with a bit more butter or cooking oil in it to see how much more it will flow.

definitely more cookie dough, but everything sounds great!! just make sure you check one to see if everything is cooked!!

youre boyfriend will be really grateful to what ever you send him! its the thought that counts, if your treat fails, send him a note saying something about how much you tried and that you love him. :)

I remember hearing about doing a cake in a jar thing for care packages when I went to the info session for military wives. Something like this.

I’d assume that if you spread the dough around and make a flat layer, it’ll fill upwards, so it’d work that way.

@dee1313: Thanks for the link! That actually looks like a really great way to send care packages to someone far away without fear that it’ll go bad before they get there! I’m going to put that in my box! One thing to note though, cookie dough =/= cake dough. Cookie dough doesn’t really expand, per se, like cake dough does.

I did chocolate chip and peanut butter… tested one of each in a cup… I sliced a hunk of dough a little less than a half inch thick, poked it around in the cup to the edges… I baked them a few minutes longer than the package instructed. They were perfect… crispy on the outside, nice and soft on the inside… nice and thick cookies too. And perfectly heart-shaped!!

so I did a dozen of each kind… and I shoved a Hershey kiss in the middle as soon as I took them out of the oven, let them cool a bit, carefully slid them out of the cups, and let them finish cooling.

Thought I would keep you posted :) thank you for all the suggestions!

@poofandmook: Yay!!! I’m so glad!

So, are you going to share? I could use a cookie right about now.

@Darwin: I didn’t even get one! The only one I ate was the very first one I did when I tested the cups out before I did all the rest.

So—3 weeks later now—did he <3 them?

oh! I forgot.

he absolutely adored them. He’s a sensitive guy… he notices things like that where most guys would just scarf a cookie without noticing the shape.

yay!! :)

Yay! I’m so glad!

obviously im too late to help you with all this and glad that he liked it all but i just have to say that i think you are such a sweetheart and such a great girlfriend to do all that for your boyfriend. my bloke is lucky if i cook him any dinner at all and as far as making things for him goes my artistic skills would mean that i would end up making him an abstract blob or ball of string.

Ok, I guess I’m a bit late also, but my thoughts. Am I correct, you wanted to send heart shaped cookies? Next time, buy heart shaped cookie cutters and roll out the dough. Once you cut out and have “scraps”, mush up the dough remnants and roll out again.