I hate Valentine’s Day. It’s a phony holiday. I sound like Holden Caulfield writing a short story about Valentine’s Day, but that’s okay. I stand by my opinion.

No one gets off work. Everyone scrambles to get a dinner reservation at a “nice” restaurant. Most of the restaurants serve a pre-planned menu that doesn’t even taste that good. A lot of the time, new parents bring their baby in a desperate attempt at a night out, so you hear the baby screaming while you’re trying to enjoy your subpar meal. Then you end up getting in a fight with your significant other, because obviously you’re going to get in a fight. Expectations run high so inevitably, you’ll be disappointed.

Which brings me to these anti-Valentine’s Day cookies. I wanted to stick it to the holiday and I was craving grapefruit, so the idea for these cookies was born. I added thyme into the mix because grapefruit and thyme pair well together. There’s something about the tart citrus flavor of grapefruit and the fragrant, woods-y flavor of thyme that make them better suited than most people who get married.

I drizzled these cookies with homemade grapefruit icing. I thought the icing came out looking pretty pink, but if you want more of a pink color, you could add a couple drops of food coloring. If you’re a Valentine’s Day enthusiast and you want to convert these cookies for your purposes, you’re probably going to add the food coloring.

ANYWAY. That’s my two cents on Valentine’s Day. I don’t like it and I certainly don’t observe it, but I understand why some people do. I wish we could make the holiday about loving ourselves because then I’d be all for it. Maybe I’ll make it a personal goal to start this movement.

Until then, I’ll leave you with this song, and the recipe for these grapefruit thyme shortbread cookies.

Anti-V Day Grapefruit Thyme Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

for the cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
2 tsp grated grapefruit zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

for the icing:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice

Directions

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Beat the butter, powdered sugar, grapefruit juice, grapefruit zest, and vanilla extract in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, salt, and thyme leaves and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in half and form into a disc. Wrap in saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour, or until chilled and slightly hardened.

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out the heart shapes and place the cookies one inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Place the baking sheets in the fridge for 20 minutes before baking.

Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Meanwhile, make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar and grapefruit juice.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets. Then remove and place on a wire rack. Drizzle on the grapefruit icing. Enjoy!