Valentine’s Sugar Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Soft & Fluffy with Glaze Pastel Icing
Perfect for Valentine’s Day!
We are all familiar with the pastel candy hearts with the little sayings on them… UR Cool, Be Mine, Call Me, etc. I really wanted to do an ode to those little Valentine’s candies in the from of sugar cookies.
I adapted this sugar cookie recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. I really really love this recipe because these sugar cookies are not overly sugary, like a lot of typical sugar cookies. They are light, fluffy, and you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry.
The trick is not rolling out the dough too thin, and NOT over-baking them. I personally love a soft cookie, and not a crunchy one. So I baked them for 10 minutes instead of 11-12 minutes. Basically… take them out 1 minute early or before they start to brown.
I wanted pretty pastel colors, so I used literally one drop of food coloring per color to cover the base of the cookies. For the wording, I used a tiny tube of store-bought icing. I should have used red icing for the words, to be just like the candy, but I accidentally bought white. I put my own spin on words on my hearts with both English and Spanish words ;) As you can see my decorating skills could VERY much improve and the quality of the store bought icing was not the best, so the words got all sloshed together.
Let’s get baking…
Ingredients…
2 and 1/4 cups- All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup (170g) Butter- unsoftened (softened to room temp)
3/4 cup (150g) Sugar
1 large Egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Instructions…
Cookie Dough
Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to combine Butter with Sugar. Mix on high for 1 minute. Add Egg, Vanilla Extract, & Almond Extract. Mix for additional minute.
In a separate bowl combine Flour, Baking Powder, & Salt. Slowly pour the dry mixture into the wet ingredients.
When everything is all mixed together, use your hand to combine all the dough. Make sure the dough isn’t sticky. If so, add a little spoonful of flour. Split into two equal parts, and roll each part into a ball.
Use parchment paper or clean counter top to roll out your dough. Flour the surface and your rolling pin. Evenly roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch thickness.
Place the rolled out dough on parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap. Set in the fridge for at least 1 hour. (2 days max).
Carefully take dough out of fridge. Use a cookie cutter of your choice. I used Heart-Shaped Cookie Cutters. Cut out as many cookies as possible, then use the leftover dough and roll it out again..
Pre-heat oven for 350 degrees. Set the cookies on a greased pan and bake for 10 minutes.
Icing
While the cookies are cooling, start making the icing
Combine Confectioner Sugar, Vanilla Extract, & 3 Tbl Water. You can also add a tiny pinch of Salt. Mix until all sugar lumps are gone. You can also add 1 Tsp of Corn Syrup (optional)-to give it an extra glossy glaze look
If you want multiple colors, divide the icing into smaller bowls wide enough of the cooke width. Dip you cookie facedown into the icing.
Let dry
You can leave the cookie icing as is or continue decorating with spinkles and words.
Products I recommend…
I like this food coloring from Wilton because it has nice pastel colors. I didn’t use a good quality cooking icing to decorate my wording, but I will use Wilton next time.
If you are looking for another Valentine’s Day dessert- that is simple, yet decadent- check out my Chocolate Soufflé recipe