Recipe: Heart Shaped Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

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Valentine’s Day is approaching soon so I decide to share a recipe that I grew up eating. A tasty sugar cookie that has a soft center, slightly crisped around the edges, and maintains its cookie cutter shape while baking in the oven. These Valentine’s Day heart-shaped sugar cookies have no crazy ingredients either so they are super easy to make. One important step that you must not skip is the dough chilling, but it’s not for too long- at least an hour.

As for the icing, I went with royal icing in white and pretty pastel pink shades to stick with the Valentine’s Day theme (It’s also a perfect for Mother’s Day!). I used my favorite icing recipe (I link to the video tutorial below) which requires only 4 ingredients.

Valentine’s Day Heart Shaped Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

• 2 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup of unsalted butter (slightly softened)
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 tsp(s) of vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Alternative option: buy refrigerated sugar cookies (ex. Pillsbury, Nestle, etc)

Icing

• 3 ounces of pasteurized egg whites
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• pink, purple, blue and red liquid or gel food colorings

Makes about 2 dozen small/medium cookies

Instructions

Step 1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.

Step 2. In a separate bowl,  beat butter and sugar together with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy for about 3-4 minutes.

Step 3. Mix in egg and vanilla extract and beat on high until fully combined.

Step 4. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix (on lower speed) until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. If dough seems too soft, go ahead and another tablespoon of flour until the consistency for rolling is perfect.

Step 5. Divide dough in half, roll into 2 balls and wrap in saran wrap or wax paper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Don’t skip this step!

Step 6. Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F and remove dough balls from fridge.

Step 7. Place dough on top of a clean, flat surface and roll out to 1/4″ thickness, frequently moving dough around to ensure it’s not sticking.

Step 8. Cut dough using a heart shaped cookie cutter. The amount of batches will depend on how small or large you cut your cookies.

Step 9. Transfer the cut cookie dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used.

Step 10. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes, until cookies just begin to lightly color around the edges and top. Let cool for about 5 minutes than transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

Step 11. Next up is the royal icing. Instead of writing down the step-by-step instructions, I thought it would be better to link to this 2 minute and 30 second video tutorial from Food Network on making it. It’s really simple to make and takes less than 10 minutes. To get the right icing shades, check out this post.

I hope you enjoy these Valentine’s Day Heart Shaped Sugar Cookies!

Photography by Pixel Stories