Valentine’s Day Cookie
Today we are making some classic heart-shaped Valentine’s day cookies for two! While this decorating technique may look advanced, my step-by-step tutorial will make it incredibly easy! These beautiful romantic cookies are easy to make, won’t take you the whole day, and have a classic tasty sugar-cookie flavor.
If you love baking and desserts, you have to try some of my other famous recipes. Some of my reader’s favorites include this Raspberry-Filled Rapunzel Pie, my decadent Homemade Chocolate Coconut Brownies, this Baked Passion Fruit Cheesecake, or these delicious Keto Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
And if you are looking for more Valentine’s day desserts, snacks, or meals, keep an eye on my website for more recipes!
Getting The Perfect Icing Consistency
This is arguably the part most people struggle with when it comes to decorating sugar cookies.
The consistency of the icing should be firm but runny. It shouldn’t be too wet, and it must be able to hold its shape when you pipe it onto the cookie.
The light pink icing can be slightly runnier than the red and white ones. That’s because it needs to easily flood the cookie. It also makes it easier for the red and white lines to blend into the pink icing and for the needle to make a unique pattern.
You can have a look at this video guide that will show you the consistency you need for these cookies.
If at any point your icing becomes too hard to work with, you can add a couple of drops of water to the bowl of icing and mix it well. This will make the consistency runnier and more workable.
How to Decorate The Cookies
- To start, outline the heart-shaped cookies with white icing. Make sure it dried slightly before flooding the cookie.
- Then spread the light pink icing with a spoon all over the cookie so it covers the entire surface.
- While the pink icing is still wet, add horizontal lines of red and white icing. You can add as many as you’d like. Alternate between the red and white lines.
4. Next, use a toothpick or needle. Drag it vertically across the wet icing. You will see a beautiful pattern forming. You can space these “drag lines” about an inch apart.
5. Turn the cookie around. Make draglines in the opposite direction between the initial lines. This will create a beautiful elaborate pattern on the heart-shaped cookie.
6. Leave the icing to dry for an hour or so.
7. Then, store them in an airtight container.
Tips And Tricks
- You have to rest the cookie dough before shaping and baking the cookies. If you don’t, the cookies will spread and lose their shape and texture.
- Because you are making large cookies, it is better to roll them between two sheets of baking paper. This makes it much easier to transfer to the cookie sheet without ruining the shape you’ve created.
- When rolling between two sheets, you may need to lift them from the dough after a couple of rolls to get rid of any crinkles that may have formed. You still want a smoothie surface on your sheet of cookie dough. This technique helps achieve that while making working with larger shapes much easier.
- If you don’t want to make a large cookie, you can always cut smaller hearts. You can even make other shapes if you’d like! The baking time will just slightly decrease depending on the size of the new cookies.
- When decorating the cookie, you have to work quickly. The pink flooded icing shouldn’t be allowed to set at all. If it does, the red and white lines won’t blend in smoothly. The same goes for when you drag the needle or toothpick through the icing. If you don’t work quickly and the icing starts to set, the needle will break it apart and form a crusty, crumbly surface.
More Delicious Valentine’s Desserts
VALENTINE’S DAY COOKIE
Ingredients
For the sugar cookies
- ⅔ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ¼ cups cake flour, sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
For the icing
- 4 cups powder sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- Light pink food coloring (preferably gel)
- Red food coloring (preferably gel)
Instructions
Make the cookie dough
- Place the softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Use a handheld mixer to beat the butter until it becomes light in color and creamy in consistency.
- Add the sugar and beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes. The sugar will start to dissolve.
- Next, add the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Mix them in for roughly a minute.
- Finally, add the sifted flour and baking powder. Keep mixing until you have a uniform dough, but don't overmix it. You can stop when you cannot see any more flour.
- Shape the dough into a 2-inch disc. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic or saran wrap. Then, leave it to rest for 30 minutes inside the fridge.
Shape the cookies
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
- Cut out two large sheets of non-stick baking paper. You can make each the size of your baking tray or cookie sheet.
- Add the rested and chilled dough between the two sheets. Then, roll it out until it becomes roughly 1/5-inch (5mm) in thickness. See notes on rolling dough between sheets.
- Once your dough is rolled, cut out large heart-shaped cookies. Make sure to leave about 2 inches of space between each. This will prevent them from merging in the oven while they are baking.
- Remove the dough between the heart-shaped cookies.
- Then, slide the baking paper (with the shaped cookies) onto the cookie sheet.
Bake and cool the cookies
- Bake the cookies for roughly 10-12 minutes or until they start turning golden brown on the edges.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and leave them to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Make the icing
- Whisk together 4 cups of powdered sugar with the water. Keep whisking until you have a lump-free uniform mixture.
- Then, add the meringue powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk them in well.
- Divide the frosting between two bowls. Color one of these bowls with light-pink food coloring. Set it aside.
- Take the other bowl and divide its frosting between two bowls. One can be colored with red food coloring, and the other can be left white.
- Add the red and white icing into two separate piping bags fitted with small-tipped nozzles.
Decorate the cookies
- To start, outline the heart-shaped cookies with white icing. Make sure it dried slightly before flooding the cookie.
- Next, add the light pink icing using a spoon. Spread it over the cookie so it covers the entire surface.
- While the pink icing is still wet, add horizontal lines of red and white icing. You can add as many as you'd like. Alternate between the red and white lines.
- Next, use a toothpick or needle. Drag it vertically across the wet icing. You will see a beautiful pattern forming. You can space these "drag lines" about an inch apart.
- Turn the cookie around. Make draglines in the opposite direction between the initial lines. This will create a beautiful elaborate pattern on the heart-shaped cookie.
- Leave the icing to dry for an hour or so. Then, store them in an airtight container.
