Valentines Day Heart Sugar Cookies Recipes

VALENTINE'S DAY HEART SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together using a hand mixer (or stand mixer) on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Turn the mixer to low speed and add baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour and mix until combined.
• Form the dough into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic cling wrap. Freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour, up to overnight).
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a half sheet baking pan with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
• Remove the dough from refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out until it is 1/4-inch thick. Use a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out heart cookie shapes.
• Transfer the cookies onto the lined baking sheet, placing them one inch apart. Re-roll any scraps and repeat to cut out more cookies.
• Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until the edges start to turn golden brown. Let the cookies cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• In medium mixing bowl, combine confectioners' sugar with meringue powder. Add water and vanilla extract and beat with a hand mixer on medium-high speed, until smooth. If you find that the icing is too thick, add a little water (a teaspoon at a time). If you find the icing too thin, add a little more sugar.
• To colour the icing, add gel food colouring. You can also use liquid food colouring, but this will have a slight effect on the consistency of the icing. You may need to add a little more sugar to get the consistency right.
• To decorate, use a no. 5 piping tip to outline the base colour on the sugar cookie, leaving about 1/8-inch from the edge, and fill in the inside. To get the icing completely to the edges, use the back of a spoon to spread the icing to the edge.
• Allow the base to dry enough so that when you add icing on top, it won't smudge or blend into it. It doesn't have to be fully set, but set enough, about 20-30 minutes. Then, use a thin no. 1 round tip to write cute Valentine's Day messages on the cookies.
• Allow the icing to set completely before stacking up and storing to prevent smudging, a few hours up to one day.

VALENTINE'S DAY HEART SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. If the dough seems too soft, you can add 1 Tablespoon more flour so it's a better consistency for rolling.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Roll each portion out onto a piece of parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat (I prefer the nonstick silicone mat) to about 1/4″ thickness. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly ¼-inch thick.
• Stack the pieces, with parchment paper between the two, onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours and up to 2 days. If chilling for more than a couple hours, cover the top dough piece with a single piece of parchment paper.
• Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Remove one of the dough pieces from the refrigerator and using a heart cookie cutter, cut into heart shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with 2nd dough piece.
• Bake for 10-11 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Make sure you rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
• In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat all of the icing ingredients together on high speed for 5 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 10-12 seconds. If it's too thick, add a little more water. (On particularly dry days, I use up to 12-14 Tablespoons water total.) If it's too thin, add a little more sifted confectioners' sugar. Separate icing into 6 different bowls. Stir in 1 tiny drop of the following colors into each bowl, 1 color per bowl: pink, violet, green, yellow, and orange. The 6th bowl is for the writing. Use 2-3 drops of red.
• Add icing to piping bag fitted with round icing tip #5. Decorate cookies with colored icing. Use round icing tip #1 for writing. Do not cover cookies as icing sets. Icing will set within 2-3 hours.
• Decorated or plain cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

VALENTINE'S DAY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• COOKIE INSTRUCTIONS:
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Cream the soft butter with the sugar until the combination is smooth not grainy to the touch in a mixing bowl.
• Add all 4 eggs at one time. Continue to mix.
• Sift the four, baking powder, and salt together. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Continue mixing to make sure all ingredients are thoroughly blended.
• Make the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling wrap completely covering the entire dough ball.
• Put in the refrigerator for about 6 hours or overnight.
• Check to see if the dough is firm. Pull the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and sit it out to soften up a bit.
• Put flour out on the wood cutting board, rub flour on the rolling pin, and work some flour into the batter (if needed), a heart cookie cutter begin to make your cookies.
• Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Using a metal spatula move the cut cookies to the parchment lined cookie sheet.
• Bake at 325 degrees F for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
• Check to see if the cookies are thoroughly baked.
• Take the cookies off of the cookie sheet and put on a wire rack to cool completely.(About 10 minutes).
• ICING INSTRUCTIONS:
• Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. (except your food coloring). If icing is not stiff enough add ¼ C powdered sugar until the icing is to a 15 second consistency. Which means that when you slice a spatula across the top of the icing, it would take 15 seconds to disappear.
• Separate the icing into 5 small bowls. Mix the icing with the food gel coloring of your choice. I used for the cookies - pastel colors: pink, yellow, purple and green and then the final bowl is for the writing and I chose a darker color of red (but you can use any color that you prefer).
• Place the pastel icing in piping bags and place the pastel icing on the cookies. Let this icing cool completely (2-3 hours).
• Then place the red icing in a decorated bag fitted with tip #1 and write your favorite Valentine's Day sayings in the center of each cookie. Some that I love using are Love, BFF, Cutie, XOXO, Call Me, Hug, Kiss, etc.
• Then allow the writing icing to cool completely (2-3 hours).
• Do not cover the cookies while the icing is cooling.
• After the icing has cooled completely, store at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 5-7 days.