Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies Recipe - Savory Nothings (2024)

These are the best cookies to bake for Valentine’s Day: Extra-soft sugar cookies (no chill!), cut into heart shapes, and decorated with the best easy icing.

I have to admit: I’m not a very patient, nor a very good cookie decorator. But I have kids who love it, so I’m a good sport and mess around with icing, food coloring and sprinkles for special holidays.

These Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies are so incredibly easy to bake (just a few simple ingredients for the dough, no chilling!) – so the decorating part can actually be fun and not overwhelming. I love whipping them up with my girls each year for Valentine’s Day!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

• Butter: Use unsalted butter. Make sure it is very soft before you start making the dough, it makes the mixing a million times easier.
• Cinnamon: This is optional, but I love to add a warm spice when we make these otherwise very classic sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day. It just adds a little extra hint of warmth, which is fitting for a day celebrating love! We extra-love using a Chai spice mix if we have it on hand, but regular old cinnamon is just fine. You can skip it if you prefer. Or use some leftover pumpkin pie spice… which is actually quite similar to Chai spice!
• Food coloring: Use a gel coloring for best results. Feel free to use natural food coloring, just know that most colors don’t get as vibrant as artificial ones.

How to make Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

1.Start by creaming the wet ingredients: Beat the butter and sugar first, then beat in the egg and vanilla. The butter and sugar should look creamy, but do not overbeat the egg – only beat until it is fully combined into the mixture.

2. Now combine the dry ingredients separately, then add them on top of the creamed mixture. Use your mixer on the lowest setting to combine into a scraggly-looking dough (again, do not overbeat! just combine).

3. Tip out the dough onto a clean countertop, then push it together 5-8 times.

4. Roll out the dough and cut out heart shapes. Bake them in batches until just lightly golden, but still very soft (the tops should look dry, no longer shiny/wet from the butter; but the cookies should still be very soft).

5. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling tray to cool completly.

6. Stir together all ingredients for the icing and color to your desire. Decorate the cookies, allow the icing to dry before stacking them.

Recipe tips

• Don’t overwork the dough:I already noted this in the instructions above, but it’s really crucial not to overwork cookie dough. You want it to be well combined and smooth to roll out, but don’t knead it like bread dough or mix it for too long. This will develop the gluten in the flour and turn out tough cookies.
• For rolling:Make sure you don’t roll the cookies too thin, or they won’t be soft. If you prefer, you can dust your work surface with icing sugar instead of flour.
• !! If it takes a long time to cut out the cookies !!If it’s taking you a relatively long time to cut out the cookies (it does for me with the kids), place the cut out cookies on the baking sheet in the fridge (or outdoors if it’s cold where you are) for 5-10 minutes before baking.

Storage tips and freezer instructions

To store baked cookies:

Sugar cookies keep well for about a week in an airtight container on the counter. Undecorated cookies stay fresh for a little longer than decorated ones in my experience.

To store raw cookie dough:

The cookie dough can be made 2 days ahead of time. Keep it covered in the fridge at all times.

Allow it to sit on the counter for 15 minutes before rolling (otherwise it is too hard). Baking time may increase by a couple of minutes due to the dough being chilled.

To freeze raw cookie dough:

Tightly wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap, then label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months) before freezing.

When ready to bake, remove the cookie dough from the freezer and thaw in the fridge overnight (I recommend placing it on a plate to catch any water drips). Once thawed, roll out and bake as directed in the recipe.

To freeze baked cookies:

Freeze the cookies undecorated! Place them in a freezer-friendly container, separating layers with sheets of baking parchment. Label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months) before freezing.

To defrost, remove the cookies from the container and place them on a wire rack on the counter for a few hours, or until defrosted.

More Valentine’s Day treats

PSIf you try this recipe, please leavea review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along onPinterest,FacebookorInstagram.

Recipe first published on 02/07/2020. Updated with better text and some new photos on 02/10/2022.