Heart Shaped Cookies
Heart-shaped cookies are a delightful treat and perfect for Valentine’s Day. This sugar cookie recipe has festive sprinkles, sweet icing, and pink cookie dough. Your kids will love decorating them with you. Whether celebrating with a loved ones or treating yourself, these cookies are a delicious way to share sweetness.
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These delightful heart-shaped cookies require some decorating, but we’ve kept it simple. Trust me, these treats have become a household favorite for good reason. They are really easy to make and look so pretty.
I love to make extra to share with friends and family—they’re always a hit! Plus, their charming sprinkle toppings are as pretty as delicious. So, let’s roll up our sleeves. It’s time to spread some cookie love!
This recipe is part of my Valentine’s Day Recipes collection. You can find all my Holiday & Seasonal Recipes here, or head to the Kid-Friendly Recipes resource hub for everything in one place.
Ingredients Needed For Heart Shaped Cookies
Most of these ingredients are pantry staples
Sugar Cookie Dough
- All-purpose flour: You can use any kind of flour.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Baking powder: Not baking soda.
- Granulated sugar: White granulated sugar is best for texture and flavor.
- Softened butter: Room temperature butter is best. Unsalted butter is what we used. If you use salted butter, leave out the salt.
- Large egg: Also at room temperature to help hold the cookie’s structure.
- Milk: Any kind of milk is fine.
- Pink food coloring: Gel coloring works best.
- Salt: Just a bit for extra flavor.
Royal Icing
- Powdered sugar: Or confectioners’ sugar.
- Pasteurized egg whites: The eggs are used raw, so they need to be pasteurized to prevent food poisoning
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Cream of tartar: To stabilize bubbles in the egg whites and speed up the whipping process.
- Water: As needed for consistency.
- Sprinkles: available in all kinds of shapes and colors
You can skip the royal icing and use a simple butter icing or buy a royal icing mix. We won’t tell.
You also need a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and a palette knife can be handy for spreading the icing.
Jump to RecipeHow To Make Heart-Shaped Cookies From Scratch
Make The Dough
Beat the butter: First, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. The mixture will be yellow and fluffy.
Add wet ingredients: Add the egg, vanilla extract, milk and pink gel food coloring and mix on on medium speed until well mixed. If you want a deeper pink, add more food coloring. Scrape the bowl bottom and sides as needed.
Whisk dry ingredients: Combine the dry ingredients.
Combine the ingredients: Now, add the flour mixture to the cookie dough mixture gradually until evenly mixed, starting at low speed and working up to medium, scraping the bowl as needed. Continue to mix on low until the cookie dough is one solid ball.
Chill the dough: Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten it into a square with a rolling pin before chilling for about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and roll out the cookie dough on a floured surface to make it about a quarter inch thick.
Make hearts: Use the cookie cutter to cut out heart-shaped sugar cookies. Keep the rolled dough cold if you are not using it right away. The dough will get sticky and harder to work with as it warms.
Chill again: Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill to help them avoid spreading.
Bake cookies: Bake cookies on your prepared baking sheet for 10 to 14 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Baked cookies should be slightly golden brown on the edges but look done in the center.
Let cookies cool: Finally, place the baked cookies on your wire cooling rack to fully cool before icing them.
Decorating The Heart Shaped Cookies
Whisk the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in a bowl on low speed. Then, turn it high and whisk for two minutes before adding the vanilla. Keep whipping until it is white and fluffy. Add water and mix on low until you get the desired thickness.
Use a palette knife to spread the royal icing onto the cooled heart cookies, place back on the cooling rack, and IMMEDIATELY top with festive sprinkles. Children will love to do this for you.
Let your cookies sit on a wire rack with a baking sheet underneath until the icing hardens.
Looking for more pretty desserts? This Jell-o Strawberry Poke Cake is another great choice for Valentine’s Day!
Recipe Variations
- Chocolate cookies: You could add cocoa powder to the cookie dough to make them chocolatey. But the cookies will not be pink.
- Other flavors: Flavor the frosting any way you like with almond extract, lemon zest, or lime zest.
- Red icing: Use red food coloring gel to make red icing. Or make pink and red marbled icing.
- Change the shape. The recipe is very versatile. For spring cookies, try making egg-shaped cookies like Easter eggs or shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a piping bag for decorating?
No, the cookies can be dipped in the icing or it can be spread over the cookies with a palette knife. However, you can use a piping bag to decorate your heart-shaped cookies more elaborately if you wish.
Why are my cookies so dry?
Cookies can turn out dry and crumbly if you use too much flour. Use the spoon and level way to measure. Just loosely spoon flour into a measuring cup and level it with the back of a knife. That is the most precise way to cook.
How should I store leftovers?
You can store your leftover heart-shaped cookies in an airtight container for several days at room temperature and about five days in the fridge.
It is also safe to freeze your heart-shaped cookies. Place parchment paper between them, and you can store them in a freezer bag for several months.
Recipe Tips:
- You should use two baking sheets. While one baking sheet is in the oven, you can prepare the other cookies on the remaining baking pan.
- Use less powdered sugar in your frosting if you do not like it overly sweet.
- The nutrition, calories, and fat content are estimated. Cookie calories will vary depending on the size.
- You can shorten prep time by making the dough and chilling it until it is ready for baking.
- If you do not have a heart-shaped cookie cutter, make these like thumbprint cookies. Just scoop your dough into balls and use your thumb to make a cute heart shape. Or you could use your pinky finger dipped in foil for smaller heart cookies.
- To ensure your cookies hold their shape, chill for 10 minutes before baking.
Heart Shaped Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Milk
- Pink gel food coloring
- 3 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup pasteurized egg whites
- 1/3 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon water if needed
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Beat the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment on low until smooth. Scrape the bottom of the bowl.
- Add the egg, vanilla extract, milk and pink gel food coloring and mix on on medium speed until well mixed. If you want a deeper pink, add more food coloring. Scrape the bowl bottom and sides as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture into the dough and mix until fully incorporated. Start the mixer on low, then increase the speed to medium. Scrape the bowl bottom and sides as needed.
- Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix it again until incorporated. Scrape the bowl bottom and sides as needed.Finally, add the rest of the remaining flour mixture and mix it again until incorporated. Scrape the bowl bottom and sides as needed.
- Work the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
- Once the dough has chilled, knead it slightly and, using a rolling pin, roll it on a lightly floured surface until about ¼ inch thick.
- Use heart cookie cutters to cut out heart shapes. Arrange the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate the cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.
- Bake the cookies in the oven to 350 degrees F for 10-14 minutes, until slightly golden brown on the edge.
- Transfer the baked cookies to a cooling rack for icing.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites, powdered sugar, and cream of tartar.
- Mix on low for about 1 minute and then on high for 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and whip until the mixture is a glossy white. This will take about 5 minutes.
- The icing will be thick, so add the water 1 teaspoon at a time, and mix on low speed until you get to the desired consistency.
- Spread the royal icing onto the cooled heart cookies, place back on the cooling rack, and IMMEDIATELY top with sprinkles.