Heart cut-out sugar cookies are sandwiched together with pink frosting & gold sprinkles for a sweet Valentine’s Day treat!
I’ve baked these for Valentine’s Day every year for the past 14 years. 💗 I don’t remember why I start baking them, or where I got the idea for the cut-outs on the top of the sugar cookie. But the sugar cookie recipe is one I’ve used for years and truly is the best I’ve ever found. I tweaked it over the years to result in a sugar cookie dough that is fail-proof because we used it in our cookie business for baking all of our sugar cookies not only for Valentine’s Day but also Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Birthdays… Roll the dough thin, you’ll have a crispy cookie, roll it thick and the cookie will be oh so soft. Either way these cookies will melt in your mouth and they love frosting!
These double heart heart sugar cookies were our February “featured cookie” at Country Cupboard Cookies. We rolled and cut them out by hand, frosted with our homemade buttercream icing and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Packaged in sealed cellophane bags, they were then carefully packed in cute gift boxes and shipped nationwide as a cookie gift for Valentine’s Day. The pink hearts were a welcome cookie to bake in the middle of winter, February, when my staff and I had recovered from the Christmas holidays and were ready for more high numbers of cookie baking and shipping. We would mix the buttery dough with a 30 qt Hobart mixer and wrap the dough in a cello baking wrap and store in the cooler until time to roll for the day’s orders.
I purchased this Wilton cookie cutter years ago and believe it or not, is the one we used for years to make thousands of double heart cookies! Now that I no longer bake thousands, I use the same recipe, though a lot smaller version, today to bake dozens. Amazing, really that this cookie cutter still looks so good! I looked on Wilton’s site at Wilton.com but was unable to find if it is still available. But if you don’t have a double heart cutter, you can use two different sizes heart cookies to make these sugar cookies as pictured below.
Although we’ve closed our online bakery now, I still love baking traditional cookies for the holidays. I baked these sweet heart cookies this past week and added some gold sprinkles. What’s not to love about pink and gold?
These are easy sugar cookies to bake. And they are not just for Valentine’s Day. I love these cookies to welcome a new baby girl ( or use blue icing for a baby boy ), Happy Birthday hearts or how about Happy Anniversary? They freeze so well, you can save a few for later. My best tip is to use LOTS of frosting. Because they include 2 cookies, you’ll need more than you think. Don’t be afraid of the frosting oozing out the sides. Sooooo good when the frosting is overflowing. Bake a batch with the recipe below and let me know what you think!
For more cookie and brownie recipes, follow us on Instagram and I’ll try to tempt you with more delicious ideas for baking! Comment below if you have any ideas or requests for new cookie recipes. I’d love to share a few with you!
Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy baking! Judy
- Sugar Cookies
- 8 ounces soft butter (1 cup or 2 sticks)
- 7 ounces white granulated sugar (1 cup)
- 1 whole egg
- 2 tsp pure vanilla
- 12 ounces all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached ( 2¾ cups)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- FROSTING:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 3 TBL melted butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- Milk or water as needed to thin
- pink food coloring
- SUGAR COOKIES
- Cream softened butter and sugars together until mixed well.
- Add whole egg and vanilla. Beat well.
- Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until soft dough forms.
- Cover bowl and chill for 20 - 30 minutes.
- Roll dough ¼ inch thick with rolling pin, using extra flour as needed.
- Cut out shapes using heart cookie cutter and place on silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet. This will be your bottom cookie. Cut out second heart cookie, then using a smaller cutter, cut out the middle to make the tops. I save the middle hearts and bake them too for mini cookie hearts. ( like doughnut holes)
- Bake in 350 degree oven 10-12 minutes. Longer baking times will result in crispier cookies if you prefer. If you save the middle of the top of the hearts, bake the mini ones only 6-8 minutes.
- Cool on baking sheet for 15 minutes, then allow to cool completely on separate rack.
- Frost with icing and spinkle with sanding sugars.
- ICING
- Mix powdered sugar and 3TBL melted butter together just briefly. Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Tint with pink food coloring as desired. If icing is too thin, add more confectioner's sugar or chill for 15 minutes until thickened and creamy.
I also tinted some of my frosting with a gold food coloring as shown in this photo. Be creative!
*You can also save the cut-out mini hearts and bake them too! Take a few minutes off your bake time for them also. I usually sprinkle them prior to baking with sanding sugars. Bite size and yummy!
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