Valentine’s Day Cookies | The Recipe Critic

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Show your sweetheart how much you care with these adorable Valentine’s Day cookies! Conversation heart cookies are fun and nostalgic and are customizable with sweet and silly messages. They are delicious, easy to make, and totally unforgettable!

Don’t you just love an excuse to bake cookies? I seriously make some for every holiday and special occasion because they are a crowd pleaser, and they travel really well. I also don’t know anyone who doesn’t like ANY kind of cookie, so they really are the best dessert to bring with you. If you love cookies, then you are going to have to try these super easy and delicious No-Bake Cookies, these show stopping Meringue Cookies, and these flavorful White Chocolate Oreo Cookies.

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

I’m pretty sure we all grew up with those chalky little heart Valentine’s Day candies right?! They were kind of flavorless, yet everyone always had them at the holiday because they have cute little messages on them. Well, get ready to fall in love with these cookies. They are actually delicious (so people will be so excited to eat them) and they can have personalized and adorable messages on them! They are seriously the ultimate Valentine’s day treat!

If you really want to spoil your special someone, you can make these cookies along with some cheesecake stuffed strawberries and these really easy to make red velvet brownies. If you are not confident in your piping skills and think this recipe might end in disaster, don’t worry! This is the perfect sugar cookie recipe that is still shaped like a heart and will win over your Valentine. It’s really the thought that counts right? That’s why I love these thoughtful cookies that you can write your thoughts onto!

Ingredients

There are two different groups of ingredients, one for the Valentine’s day sugar cookies and the other is for the icing. If you have never made royal icing before, I share all my tips in the recipe and some extras in the tip box! You will also need a heart-shaped cookie cutter, I like these ones. You can use a ziploc bag for the pastry bag if you need to, but I would recommend a piping tip. I talk more about that in the tip box below. You can find exact measurements below in the recipe card.

Sugar Cookie Ingredients

• Flour: I used all purpose flour for this recipe.
• Salt: A little salt helps to balance the sweet flavors.
• Baking Powder: This helps the cookies rise.
• Butter: If your ingredients are at room temperature then they will mix together more smoothly. 
• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar will make this recipe sweet.
• Egg Yolks: This makes the cookie bind together really well and gives it the perfect texture.
• Sour Cream: It’s amazing! A little sour flavor really makes this cookie taste incredible, and not too sweet.
• Vanilla Extract: This will enhance the flavors of the sweet ingredients.
• Lemon Extract: This adds a fresh and bright flavor that you are going to love! You could add fresh lemon juice and zest instead.

Royal Icing

• Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar dissolves really smoothly and makes the frosting taste delicious and sweet.
• Meringue Powder: This will help the frosting set up to the right stiffness. You can use gelatin or cream of tartar instead, they all do the same thing. However, you will need to use a different amount, so make sure to look up the conversion before substituting.
• Water: Room temperature is best to help all of the ingredients combine.
• Gel Food Coloring: You get to choose! I like to use pastel colors, so I don’t add as much coloring. The gel works best because it doesn’t change the consistency of the frosting. Don’t use too much coloring or it will make your frosting taste bitter.

Valentine’s Day Cookies Recipe

Get ready for your new Valentine’s Day cookie tradition! This seriously is one of my new favorite things. Everyone fell in love with the cookies right away because they not only look adorable and really thoughtful, they are also super delicious! This just might be the best sugar cookie recipe I’ve made! There is nothing tricky to this recipe, it’s going to turn out great!

Make the Sugar Cookie

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Beat Butter and Sugar: In another medium bowl beat together the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, sour cream and extracts and mix until just combined.
4. Add Dry to Wet: Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just barely full combined.
5. Roll and Shape: This recipe does not require any chilling time for the cookie dough, so you’re ready to roll out your cookies! Split the dough into 2-3 pieces and roll them one at a time on a lightly floured surface until they are ¼ inch thick. Use a heart cookie cutter to cut out your cookies. Press the scraps together and set aside to rest for about 5 minutes. Reroll the scraps and cut more cookies until you have used up all the dough. I used a 3-inch heart and was able to get 18 cookies.
6. Bake: Place the cookies on the parchment lined cookie sheets leaving 1 ½ inches between them. Bake for 6-8 minutes, rotating the pan at the 4 minute mark. I find this gives the cookies an even bake. The edges will be just set and the cookies will be very light in color and should have very minimal coloring underneath them.
7. Cool and Frost: Let the Valentine’s Day cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes for the shape to set before transferring to a cooling rack. You can now store them, or frost them once they have had time to cool.

Make the Royal Icing

1. Mix: Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, mix the powdered sugar and meringue powder together on low.
2. Add water: Add 4-5 tablespoons of water and mix together on high speed for about 1 minute. The icing should be pretty stiff. Add additional water 1 tablespoon at a time until the icing is about the consistency of soft serve ice cream and forms soft peaks. Reserve ⅓ cup, roughly, of icing and cover tightly with plastic wrap. This will be for the lettering on the cookies.
3. Add Color: With the remaining icing, add additional water 1-2 teaspoons at a time until when the whisk is raised the icing drips back into the bowl and the lines of icing take about 10 seconds to melt back into the icing. This is the thin icing that will be used to fill, or flood, your cookies. Separate into small bowls and tint the icing your chosen colors, I chose to use a pastel color pallet of pink, blue, yellow, and purple. Color the reserved stiff frosting red or black for lettering. Now you are ready to ice your Valentine’s Day cookies.

Valentine’s Day Cookie Decorating

1. Fill Bag: When ready to ice your Valentine’s day cookies, fill your piping bags with the icing colors and tie off the ends to prevent the icing from overflowing out the top of the bags. Avoid filing them more than ½-⅔ full. Snip the end of the bag just barely, leaving a very small hole to pipe from.
2. Line and Flood: Use light pressure to trace the outside of the heart, not letting the tip of the bag touch the cookie unless it’s to start or stop piping. Once the outline has been piped, use stronger pressure to fill the center of the cookie. It doesn’t have to be perfect, use a toothpick or a scribe tool to swirl the icing around until all the holes are filled. Let it set and the icing will melt into itself and smooth out. Set aside and let it crust over, at least an hour.
3. Add Lettering: Snip the very end of the bag of the stiffer frosting for the lettering. Once the base icing has formed a crust, pipe your chosen words onto the cookies. Let the cookies sit overnight or 24 hours to fully dry. They should be uncovered at room temperature. Once the icing is completely dry the cookies can be stacked and stored in an airtight container for up to 7 days.