Pope's Valentine Cookies for Small Hands

S made these with Baba this week as Valentine gifts for her friends at school. The recipe is adapted from Allrecipes; the cookies are wonderful to bake for small hands because they can do the kneading, the cutting out of hearts, and then add the red sprinkles at the end.

1/2 pound butter, softened
2 1/2 cups (sifted) all-purpose flour
1cup (sifted) confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2.  Mix butter in a mixer until light, add remaining ingredients and continue mixing until "too stiff for mixer".
3. Knead until velvety.
4. Roll one-half of the dough at a time to about 1/4 inch thickness using the smallest amount of flour possible. (The thickness is important so that the small hands can do the cutting - too thin and the dough won't hold.)
5. Cut out and bake on a lightly greased pan for 12 minutes.  Cookies will be almost white when cooked.

Red sprinkles enhanced our Valentine cookies.  The recipe would work wonderfully for other shapes at other times of year, with appropriate sprinkles.