Bake these easy Heart Cookies for Valentine’s Day or any other day you want to spread a little love!
Decorate them with frosting and sprinkles or words to make them like conversation hearts, perfect for the festival of love or just to give to friends and family.
These Heart Cookies are such a fun treat to make and share, and really quite easy to make.
These heart shpaed cookies are the perfect edible gift, and nothing warms my heart like the big smiles received when I offer someone a gift bag of these.
While I originally intended these as Valentine’s Day cookies, they can definitely be made all year round.
The base of these Heart Cookies is a sugar cookie mix topped with homemade icing and then decorated with sprinkles and even written messages.
Sweet, simple, and so fun to make.
If you have kids, this makes a great hands-on Valentine’s Day project to share with them and they could even take them into school as a treat for friends.
They can help mix, use the cookie cutters and, of course, decorate.
Just don't mind if their cookies aren't quite as Pinterest-worthy as you might have hoped!
As long as they represent effort and love, they're perfect.
What To Write On Valentine’s Day Heart Cookies
While I think these heart shaped cookies are great just decorated with frosting and sprinkles, they are also super fun to write on.
I like to write phrases like you might find on conversation hearts:
- Love
- XOXO
- Amour
- Best
- Cuties
- BFF
- Be Mine
- Hugs
- Kisses
- 💖You
Another fun idea, especially if offering these at a Valentine’s Day party or as an edible gift is to write out the names or nicknames of those who will be enjoying them.
Easy Heart Cookie Variations
You can easily take this Heart Cookies recipe and turn these soft, chewy iced cookies into any other shape you desire!
This recipe works for Easter egg shapes, Christmas trees and all shapes in between.
Just switch the cookie cutter for your desired shape and the food colouring for the frosting and you’re good to go.
The amount of cookies you make with this recipe may vary based on the size of the cookie cutter, as well as the cooking time by a minute or so.
How to Store Frosted Sugar Cookies
You can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
I recommend storing in a single layer due to the frosting. You don't want bashed hearts!
If you need to freeze these Heart Cookies, I recommend doing so prior to frosting them for the best results.
You can also freeze the uncooked dough for up to a month.
Heart Cookies Recipe
Makes 14 large cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
¾ cup / 95g confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
½ cup / 110g butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ cup / 225g flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cream of tartar
For the icing:
1 cup / 115g confectioners sugar
4 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup (you could use goldden syrup or agave instead)
¼ tsp almond extract
Pink food colouring
Pink and white non-pariel sprinkles, candy hearts etc
Equipment needed:
Stand or hand mixer
Frosting piping bag and nozzle
Method
1. To make the cookies, cream together the confectioners (icing) sugar, butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and egg.
2. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda until thoroughly combined.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in a refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
4. Roll the dough out on a floured board to 1/8” thick.
5. Cut out heart shaped cookies using the cutters.
6. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or just golden.
Leave to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. To prepare the icing, combine the confectioner's (icing) sugar, milk, corn syrup (or alternative), and almond extract until smooth and creamy.
Tip: to create a nice piped edge on the cookie, separate 2 heaped tbsp of icing into a small bowl and add a further 1 tbsp of confectioners sugar. This will create a thicker icing.
8. Scoop this icing into a piping bag with a small hole cut in the bottom.
9. Pipe your edge around the centre of the cookie and each petal.
This will prevent the coloured icing from pooling and dripping over the edge.
10. With the remaining icing, add food colouring to achieve the desired shade.
11. Spoon a small amount of coloured icing onto cookie and carefully spread to the border edge.
Tip: use a toothpick to work the icing toward the edge. Work quickly, the icing dries and hardens fast.
12. Sprinkle non-pariels or hearts on as quickly as possible so they will stick.
Here are some decorating ideas:
13. Use the white piping bag to write words if desired.
And serve to everyone you love!
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