Valentine's Day Heart Sugar Cookies
Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion to express your affection through homemade treats, and what could be more fitting than heart-shaped sugar cookies? Our recipe offers an easy-to-follow guide to creating these sweet symbols of love, adorned with a delectable strawberry buttercream. Whether you’re a baking novice or a seasoned pro, these cookies are sure to spread joy and sweetness to anyone lucky enough to receive them.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Bake Time: 6 minutes
Decorating time: 15 mins
Total Time: 1 hour and 30 mins
Ingredients
For the cookies…
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- Food coloring or freeze dried strawberries, blended into a powder
- 1 small-sized heart cookie cutter
- 1 medium-sized heart cookie cutter
For the Strawberry Buttercream…
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 4 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Steps
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the softened butter and sifted sugar. Mix on low speed until the mixture is smooth and well incorporated.
- Incorporate the egg and vanilla into the mixture, ensuring to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Continue mixing on low to medium speed until the batter reaches a light and fluffy consistency.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually incorporate the dry mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed until no flour streaks remain and a dough forms.
- Take ¼ cup of the dough and dye it pink, using either strawberry powder or food coloring. Take another ¼ cup of dough and dye it dark pink or red. Roll out each colored portion to be ⅛ of an inch thick.
- Roll out the plain, uncolored dough between two pieces of parchment paper until it reaches a thickness of ¼ inch.
- Place all three sheets of dough in the refrigerator to chill for 15-20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- While the dough is chilling, prepare the buttercream frosting. Begin by pulsing freeze-dried strawberries in a blender until a fine powder forms. Using the whisk attachment, combine the softened butter, sifted sugar, and the sifted strawberry powder. Gradually add vanilla and cream, incorporating the cream 1 tablespoon at a time until the buttercream achieves a light and fluffy consistency. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a medium-sized decorating tip.
- Take the pink and red dough out of the fridge and cut out as many small hearts as possible from each color.
- Arrange the small hearts all over the uncolored sheet of dough, leaving half an inch of space between the hearts. Cover it with parchment paper, then use a rolling pin to gently flatten the hearts into the uncolored dough.
- Use a medium-sized heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many hearts as possible. Arrange them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then bake for 6 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack before assembling.
- After the cookies have cooled, use the prepared piping bag to fill them. To do this, flip one cookie upside down and place approximately 1 tablespoon of filling evenly distributed in the center, following the shape of the cookie. Top it with another cookie positioned upright.
- Repeat this process until each cookie is frosted. Continue pairing cookies and filling them until the entire batch is assembled.
- Enjoy this sweet Valentine’s Day treat!
Note: You can still make these cookies even if you don’t have heart-shaped cookie cutters. I hand-cut each one using a thick paper stencil and a sharp knife. However, I recommend using cookie cutters unless you’re prepared for this to become an all-day craft.
Recipe inspired by: https://thesqueakymixer.com/valentines-day-sandwich-cookies/#wpzoom-premium-recipe-card