I’m a sucker for any holiday as it gives me an excuse to bake holiday-themed goodies. This year, I couldn’t help but be swept up by the mass of hearts, pink, and red that greeted me at Target earlier in the week, so of course, I quickly snatched up a set of heart cookie cutters with the intent of making some holiday themed cookies!
Many people avoid making cutout cookies from scratch because of the wait time required. It seems like every recipe emphasizes the need to refrigerate the cookie dough ‘for at least two hours or best, overnight.’
I’m not sure about you, but…
1. I don’t have that kind of time to wait for my dough to chill and 2. This woman doesn’t wait for anyone – or any dough.
That’s why I found my go-to sugar cookie recipe that’s easily comes together, requires no wait time to chill, rolls out so smoothly, it leaves to feelin’ like a boss, and tastes great!
Conversation Hearts
Although my cookie recipe didn’t require any wait time, these cookies did suck up a big part of my Saturday morning due to my choice of decorations. I decorated these hearts using royal icing and a flood method which required me to pipe an icing dam around each of the cookies then flood them with a thinner royal icing. When dried, there’s a deliciously sweet, crunchy shell on the cookies which I absolutely love! It’s a great contrast to the soft buttery sugar cookie!
Cutout the hearts
I was feeling a little creative and a bit ambitious so I decided to make two different types of decorated hearts.
I absolutely love the beautiful, lace decorated hearts. They’re so intricate and were relaxing to decorate. The pastel pink and deep red with the stark white contrast of the piping make them almost too pretty to eat!
I also love the traditional Valentine’s Day conversation heart cookies as they’re bright, fun and cheery! Definitely a classic holiday symbol! My favorite part was coming up with the sayings for each of the cookies.
Ready to bake
Outline and Fill
These cookies may be Valentine’s themed but the recipes and decorating technique can be used year round to spread the love!
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
- 1½ cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- In a large mixing bowl, whip the softened butter until cream.
- Add in the confectioner's sugar and continue creaming another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Once thoroughly combined, add in the egg and flavoring of choice.
- Mix until well combined.
- Add in the baking powder, salt an 1 cup of flour.
- Continue mixing and adding in the remaining flour as two separate additions.
- The dough should start to come together, though it may appear crumbly at the to bottom.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured countertop and work the dough together.
- If it's too wet, add additional flour (up to ¼ cup) until the dough forms together.
- Roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick and cut cookies into desired shapes.
- Bake the cookies on a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat for 5-7 minutes until lightly golden around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie tray 1-2 minutes.
- Transfer to paper towels or a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
