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Home / Holiday Recipes / Valentine's Day / Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

1 hr 15 mins
| Leave a Comment |
5 from 4 votes
Jump to Recipe 02/10/22 | Updated: 02/10/22 | by Nora
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies Recipe Image Pin

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.

overhead view of valentine's day sugar cookies on marble surface with pink roses

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!

ingredients for Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies with text labels
Ingredients for Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies: Butter, flour, egg, sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, optionally cinnamon and ingredients for the icing (icing sugar, food coloring).

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.

  • glass bowl with creamed butter and egg on top
    cream wet ingredients
  • glass bowl with dry ingredients
    combine and add dry ingredients
  • mixer stuck in cookie dough
    combine into scraggly dough
  • cookie dough on marble surface
    push a few times on countertop

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.

  • rolled out cookie dough with hearts cut out
    cut out cookies, bake
  • icing running from spoon
    make icing
  • box with heart shaped sugar cookies next to three bowls with colored icing
    cooled cookies
  • overhead view of several decorated valentine's day sugar cookies on marble surface
    decorate!

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.
several heart shaped, iced sugar cookies on marble surface

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.

overhead view of white scalloped plate with decorated sugar cookies with pink roses around

More Valentine’s Day treats

  • Dark Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting
  • The Best Double Chocolate Cookies
  • Super Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
  • Chewy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!

Printable Recipe Card
overhead view of several decorated valentine's day sugar cookies on marble surface
Save Recipe Saved!

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

These are my favorite cookies to bake for Valentine's Day: Sugar cookies, cut into heart shapes, and decorated with the best easy icing.
Recipe by Nora from Savory Nothings
made it? tap the stars to add your rating!
5 from 4 votes
Print Add Review

Recipe details

Prep 15 mins
Baking Time 10 mins
Total 1 hr 15 mins
Servings 36 cookies
Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
 

For the cookies:

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups white flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon optional; see notes
  • ½ teaspoon salt

For the icing:

  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons room temperature water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • food coloring of your choice gel coloring works best

Instructions
 

Make the cookie dough:

  • Heat oven to 350°F. Line a few cookie sheets.
  • Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Then add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated (do not overmix egg!).
  • Combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a separate bowl, then gradually add to butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined into scraggly dough (again, do not overmix!).

Roll out and cut shapes:

  • Remove dough from bowl and place on a clean, lightly floured surface. Push together with your hands a few times until a smooth dough forms – do not knead or overwork; or cookies will be tough! Divide dough in half and roll out each half on a lightly floured work surface to ¼ inch thickness.
  • Cut out heart shapes with a heart cookie cutter, re-rolling any scraps of dough to cut out more. Place similarly sized cookies on same cookie sheets, 2 inches apart to allow for even baking.

Bake, cool and decorate:

  • Bake one sheet of cookies at a time for 8-12 minutes (8 minutes for small cookies, 10 minutes for medium cookies, 12 minutes for large cookies), or until they're lightly golden underneath and feel dry and delicate when lightly touching the top.
  • Cool cookies on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • To ice the cookies, stir all ingredients for icing together until smooth. Color as desired (I divided the icing between 3 bowls and colored one red, one pink and left one white). Ice cookies as you like (decorate with sprinkles while icing is wet, if you want). Let dry for a good few hours before packing or boxing up!
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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!
  • 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.
Nutrition is an estimate.

More recipe information

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

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

Nora Rusev from Savory Nothings
About Nora 
When I got married to my professional chef husband, I realized I had to step up my game in the kitchen. Now I share my favorite foolproof family recipes here on Savory Nothings: Chef-approved, kid-vetted and easy enough for everyday home cooks like you and me!   Learn more.

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Nora Rusev from Savory Nothings

Hi, I'm Nora! I wasn't always a good cook, but then I fell in love with a professional chef and learned my way around the kitchen. Now I share all my secrets to effortlessly great food here on my blog, bite-sized for home cooks just like me and you.

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