Celebrate love with our irresistible Valentine’s Day sugar cookie recipe! These cookies deliver a perfect blend of buttery goodness and a hint of vanilla that will melt your sweetheart’s heart. The dough is incredibly forgiving, making it a breeze for even novice bakers to create these heart-shaped treats. Embrace the magic of homemade goodness and make this Valentine’s Day unforgettable with our tried-and-true sugar cookie recipe – because nothing says “I love you” like a plate full of delicious, made-with-love cookies!
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What makes sugar cookies flatten out?
If your Valentine’s Day sugar cookies are spreading and flattening out, there are a few things you can tweak to fix it:
- Don’t skip the chilling step. The cookie dough absolutely needs to be chilled in order for the cookies to hold their shape.
- Use cool cookie sheets. Either let your baking sheets cool for a few minutes or run them under cool water and dry them before filling them with more cookies to bake. Warm or hot cookie sheets will make the cookies spread more!
What do I need to make these sugar cookies?
If you bake regularly, you probably have everything you need already:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract. If you want to mix things up, we’ve gotten delicious results from replacing part or all of the vanilla extract with peppermint, coconut, or almond extracts!
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
Do you have to refrigerate sugar cookie dough before rolling?
Yep, you definitely cannot skip this step. Chilling the dough helps your sugar cookies hold their shape, and keeps them from spreading in the oven. If you want your Valentine’s Day sugar cookies to look like hearts or whatever other cookie-cutter shape instead of puffy blobs, youhaveto stash the dough in the fridge for a while.
What is the best way to roll out sugar cookie dough?
Typically, people will flour their work surface and rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking. But we prefer to use powdered sugar—it still helps the dough roll out smoothly while also absorbing into the dough. That way, you don’t end up with powdery flour residue on your cookies!
We recommend rolling your cookies between 1/8″ and 1/4″ thick, but consistency is more important than the precise thickness. As long as each cookie is roughly the same thickness, they will bake up evenly!
Protip: Re-roll your scraps!
Don’t let those dough scraps go to waste! You can roll them out again to cut out more cookies. If it feels like you are spreading softened butter instead of rolling out dough, re-chill the cookie dough scraps before rolling them back out.
Frosting and decorating Valentine’s Day sugar cookies
There are three choices for icing sugar cookies: royal icing, buttercream frosting, and powdered sugar glaze. The really intricate designs you’ve probably seen on social media call for royal icing, which can be fussy to use and requires more skill.
Our favorite sugar cookie icing is a simple powdered sugar glaze. It is easy to tint, flavor, and use—just spread the icing to the edge and top with festive sprinkles. The icing dries hard enough to stack, but not so hard that it is difficult to bite into!
How far in advance can you make decorated cookies?
Your iced Valentine’s Day sugar cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. We recommend using parchment paper or wax paper in between the cookies to keep them from sticking to each other.
You can also freeze the baked cookies if they haven’t been iced yet! Freeze the cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid, and then transfer them to a freezer-safe container or zip-top freezer bag. Use within three months.
While iced sugar cookies taste just fine after freezing, the icing tends to crack and lose its shine. We recommend waiting to decorate your frozen cookies once they are defrosted.
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies Recipe
Yield: 6-7 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 28 minutes
These Valentine's Day sugar cookies are sure to make your loved ones smile. And don't worry about the decorating—we kept it simple as can be!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or coconut or almond extract)
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Sugar cookie icing dyed pink, red, or whatever color you want
- Valentine's Day sprinkles
Instructions
- Cream together butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer. Mix in eggs and extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter in batches, stirring until well combined.
- Divide dough into four equal pieces, shape into discs, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge, or 20 minutes in the freezer.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Remove one disc from the fridge and roll the dough out on a floured surface until the dough is 1/8"-1/4" thick.
- Cut with cookie cutters (we recommend hearts of course!) and transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes, watching closely. Cookies are done when bottoms are just barely golden. Remove cookies immediately from the baking sheet, and let cool completely on cooling rack before icing. Repeat with remaining dough, ensuring that the pans are cool to the touch before filling them with more cookie dough.
- Decorate withsugar cookie icing(keep it as white icing or add a few drops of food coloring to dye it) and sprinkles, as desired.
Notes
- The standard way to roll out sugar cookies is to use additional flour, but you can also use powdered sugar. The powdered sugar absorbs into the cookie while it bakes and doesn't leave any flour residue.
- Here's oursugar cookie icing recipefor when it is decorating time!
- Make sure the cookies are cooled completely before icing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 72Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 94Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 49mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 0gSugar: 6gProtein: 1g
At Wholefully, we believe that good nutrition is about much more than just the numbers on the nutrition facts panel. Please use the above information as only a small part of what helps you decide what foods are nourishing for you.
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
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Now, let's discuss the concepts mentioned in this article.
Sugar Cookies:
Sugar cookies are a type of cookie that are made with a simple dough consisting of ingredients such as unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. They are known for their sweet taste and soft texture. Sugar cookies are often cut into various shapes using cookie cutters and can be decorated with frosting, icing, or sprinkles. They are a popular treat, especially during holidays like Valentine's Day.
Chilling Sugar Cookie Dough:
Chilling the sugar cookie dough before rolling it out is an important step to ensure that the cookies hold their shape and do not spread too much during baking. The chilling process allows the butter in the dough to solidify, which helps the cookies retain their shape when exposed to heat in the oven. It is recommended to refrigerate the dough for at least a couple of hours or even overnight before rolling it out and cutting it into shapes.
Rolling Out Sugar Cookie Dough:
When rolling out sugar cookie dough, there are a few techniques that can be used. One common method is to lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking. However, the article suggests using powdered sugar instead of flour. Powdered sugar can help the dough roll out smoothly and also absorbs into the dough during baking, avoiding any powdery flour residue on the cookies. It is recommended to roll the dough to a thickness between 1/8" and 1/4", ensuring consistency in thickness for even baking.
Re-rolling Dough Scraps:
To minimize waste and make the most of the sugar cookie dough, it is suggested to re-roll the dough scraps after cutting out the initial shapes. If the dough becomes too soft or sticky while re-rolling, it is advised to re-chill it before continuing. This process allows you to cut out more cookies and make the most of the dough.
Frosting and Decorating Sugar Cookies:
There are various options for frosting and decorating sugar cookies. The article mentions three choices: royal icing, buttercream frosting, and powdered sugar glaze. Royal icing is commonly used for intricate designs but requires more skill to work with. Buttercream frosting is another option that can be easily flavored and tinted. The article recommends a simple powdered sugar glaze as their favorite icing for sugar cookies. This glaze is easy to tint, flavor, and use. It dries hard enough to stack the cookies but remains easy to bite into. Decorations such as festive sprinkles can be added to enhance the appearance of the cookies.
Storing Decorated Cookies:
Once the sugar cookies are decorated, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. To prevent the cookies from sticking to each other, it is recommended to place parchment paper or wax paper between the layers. If the cookies have not been iced yet, they can be frozen. To freeze the baked cookies, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid, and then transfer them to a freezer-safe container or zip-top freezer bag. It is advised to use the frozen cookies within three months and decorate them after they have been defrosted.
I hope this information helps you understand the concepts mentioned in the article. If you have any further questions or need more information, feel free to ask!
