Valentine's Piping Practice with Chocolate Buttercream

1. This is my favorite. I would like to
use this design again

 After making my grandson's "beary" special birthday cake, I had extra chocolate frosting and sugar cookie dough.

With Valentine's Day only five weeks away, I decided to bake the leftover dough into heart cookies and practice my piping skills with the leftover frosting. My momma always says,"Practice makes perfect."
All of the piping was done with a #21 star tip.

2. An assortment of swirled roses.

3. A broken cookie from my bear cake project, decorated with
swirls and stars.

4. My husband laughed when he saw my chocolate version
of tic-tac-toe, or hugs n kisses. He enjoyed eating it. I would
like to make this design with a piping tip for the
inside grid. 

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup white shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened, cocoa powder
4 cups. powdered sugar
3 - 4 1/2 Tbsp. milk

Directions

• In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and butter on medium speed. 
• Add vanilla and cocoa powder.
• Stir it in until the cocoa powder is mixed in.
• Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
• Beat well after each addition.
• Scrape bowl often.
• Add milk and beat until fluffy. 
• Adjust amount of milk to get the consistency you want.
• Keep bowl covered with plastic wrap until ready to use. 

Store left over frosting in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Before using again, remove from refrigerator, let warm up for 20-30 minutes. Then beat the frosting until it is fluffy again.