With Valentine’s Day around the corner, the world becomes filled with heart shaped treats exploding in red and pink. I decided to contribute to the spectacle by making delicious heart shaped sugar cookies that are perfect for Galentine’s Day brunch or to spice up your Valentine’s Day study session (a Thursday in the middle of midterms. Don’t Worry, I understand). That is where the simplicity of this recipe comes in handy. Make just the cookie and you have yourself a cookie decorating party! Decorate them on your own to make edible Valentines for all your friends! So many options. However, the best thing about this recipe is that if you change the shape of the cookie cutter and the frosting, they can fit any holiday or theme of your imagining. Now get baking baby!
Oven: 350° F Bake Time: 8 minutes
This recipe yields about 30 cookies depending on the size of your cookie cutter.
Ingredients:
3 Cups flour
1 Cup/2 Sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¼ Cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
For the icing:
Powdered sugar
Milk of choice
Pink food coloring (optional)
Directions for cookies:
1. When the butter is at room temperature, mix with sugar until a cream-like texture forms. I used an electric hand mixer which saves a lot of time and labor.
2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until it is fully incorporated. Then add the baking powder and salt and mix again.
3. Stir in the flour with a spoon one cup at a time until there is no visible four left in the dough. Wrap in cling wrap and let it chill in the fridge for about half an hour.
4. Preheat oven and line counter top with wax paper. Doing this makes it so you do not need to keep adding flour to the counter and saves you a mess. Roll out the dough to desired thickness (my cookies were about ¼ inch thick). With a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out your cookies and place them on a cookie sheet. These cookies hold their form throughout baking, so you do not need to worry about spacing them far apart.
5. Bake for about eight minutes or until the bottoms have just turned golden brown. Do not overbake or they will become crunchy instead of chewy. Let cool on the cookie sheet before removing them.
Directions for icing and decorating:
1. Mix powdered sugar and milk together until they form a mixture that is sticky and a little runny, but not too thick and not too watery. Add food coloring and mix.
2. Pour icing into a piping bag or a Ziplock bag and cut a small hole in one of the corners. The bigger the hole, the ticker your line will be.
3. Decorate cookies as you wish. I added festive sprinkles and played around with making different patterns. It might take some practice to learn how to apply the icing evenly, but once you get the hang of it’s no problem.
All photos were taken by Kate Rutz-Robbins