Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies | Wholefully (2024)

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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!

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies | Wholefully (1)

Table of Contents

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
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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.

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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.

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Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies | Wholefully (5)

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  5. Remove one disc from the fridge and roll the dough out on a floured surface until the dough is 1/8"-1/4" thick.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies | Wholefully (2024)

FAQs

Can you over beat sugar cookie dough? ›

There are several issues at play with over-mixing. The first is aeration: If too much air is incorporated into the butter-sugar-egg mixture of cookie dough, for example, the cookies—in the oven for relatively a short amount of time, and without structural support from the sides of a pan—will rise, then fall.

How old is the sugar cookie? ›

Their crumbly cookie made with butter and shaped into round or keystone shapes were a sweet hit from their formation in the late 1700s. A simple recipe of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and baking soda or powder blend together to form a light, simple and delicious cookie.

Why did my sugar cookies crack? ›

Issues with cracking usually derive from the sugar coating, not enough or expired baking powder or baking soda, or the oven temperature isn't hot enough. Solution: Granulated sugar is more effective at drying the surface than powdered sugar.

Should sugar cookies be hard or soft? ›

The very best sugar cookies are soft and tender. → Follow this tip: One of the keys to great sugar cookies is mixing the dry ingredients only until they're just incorporated, and not a second longer. Once the dry ingredients are added, less mixing equals more tender cookies.

Why is my sugar cookie dough gummy? ›

When cookie dough is too sticky, you may have an imbalance of wet and dry ingredients. You can fix this by adding a teaspoon of flour or cornstarch at a time until your dough is just how you want. The added flour or cornstarch will absorb the excess liquid and reduce the dough's overall stickiness.

Is cookie male or female? ›

This adorable gender-neutral name has Latin, English, Dutch, and modern roots, all revolving around cooking and baking. The traditional Latin and English meaning of Cookie is "cook," perfect if you want to raise a little future chef.

Is caramel cookie a girl? ›

Caramel Arrow Cookie is a determined, supremely loyal individual with a strong mental fortitude. As the First Watcher of the Dark Cacao Kingdom and the head of its most elite troops, she is as ardent towards her nation as one can be and refuses to back down when it and her comrades are threatened.

Who invented cookies? ›

Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. They spread to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain. By the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society throughout Europe, from royal cuisine to street vendors.

Do sugar cookies rot? ›

Decorated Sugar Cookies

If you leave them on the counter, at room temperature, they should be good to go for about two weeks. If you decide to leave them in the fridge, they will last about a week, but keep in mind that it's best to eat them within the first three days.

What happens if you forget to put brown sugar in cookies? ›

What happens when you bake without brown sugar? To be succinct, the resulting baked good could be slightly drier or more crisp. Without the excess moisture from the molasses in the brown sugar, the final cookie won't be as chewy and the final bread might be drier.

How to spice up sugar cookies? ›

Take plain sugar cookies up a notch with exciting mix-ins like chocolate chips, rainbow sprinkles, toasted chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit or M&M's. Add these after blending your butter and egg into the sugar cookie mix.

Can sugar cookies go bad? ›

The best way to store sugar cookies is in an airtight container at room temperature, with a layer of parchment paper or wax paper between each layer of cookies. Sugar cookies can last for up to two weeks at room temperature, up to a month in the refrigerator, and up to three months in the freezer.

Why are my sugar cookies dry? ›

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

What color should sugar cookies be? ›

A fully baked sugar cookie will have a light, golden brown undertone on the bottom with lightly golden edges. Colored dough darkens the longer it is baked so be sure to remove the cookies from the oven as soon as the edges turn golden brown.

Can you beat cookie dough too much? ›

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

How do you know if you overmixed cookie dough? ›

Check Your Cookie Dough's Consistency

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process.

What happens if you over whip cookie dough? ›

"Overmixing your dough will result in flatter, crispier cookies," Cowan said. If you overmix, you will end up aerating (adding air to) the dough, which causes the cookies to rise and then fall, leaving you with flat cookies.

Can I fix overmixed cookie dough? ›

Overmixing the dough

If you overmix the dough, the cookies will be dry and crumbly. The best way to fix this is to add more liquid to the dough. This can be done by adding milk, water, or even melted butter. You may also need to add more flour to the dough if it is too wet.

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