Show someone you love them with a batch of Heart Sugar Cookies with royal icing and edible silver leaf. They’re sweet and sparkly, and would make a great gift or activity to do together!
Heart Sugar Cookie Cutouts
I have lots of recipes for chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cookies, no-bake cookies, snickerdoodles, thumbprint cookies and oatmeal cookies.
But I couldn’t believe I didn’t share my recipe for sugar cookies yet!
Making sugar cookies is one of my favorite activities at the holidays, but they aren’t limited to just Christmastime. (Though these snowflake sugar cookies are a delight all winter long.)
Sugar cookies are a fun addition to birthday parties, baby showers and even Valentine’s Day, when I like to make them with heart sugar cookies.
Why you’ll love this recipe
These heart cookies are so fun for Valentine’s Day or anytime you want to spread some love.
- Sugar cookies cut into hearts are a great gift for anyone you love!
- Cut them into any shape for any time of year.
- You can customize the icing with designs, edible foil and/or food coloring.
For another heart-shaped treat, try these Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies!
About this recipe
But I couldn’t wait til next Christmas to share them with you. I remembered I had a pair of cute heart cookie cutters that I could put to good use for Valentine’s Day. (Bonus: You can also use them for other treats like heart-shaped brownies.)
What I love about these cookies is that they are a classic recipe. A simple sugar cookie dough and a subtly-flavored lemon royal icing.
And they are SO customizable! Use whatever cookie cutters you want! Ice them or don’t! Color the frosting or don’t! Add sprinkles or edible silver leaf or… say it with me: Don’t!
Edible silver leaf for cookies
I chose edible silver leaf because it’s kind of unexpected. Plain cookies and sprinkle cookies are both lovely, but edible metallic leaf is the extra mile. You can also use edible gold leaf.
It’s another step because, once the icing has hardened, you must “paint” the leaf onto the icing.
If you go this route, have fun — the cookies are meant to be imperfect and that’s what I love about them. No two the same!
This is the third year of this awesome event put on by my friend Julie at The Little Kitchen.
Last year I shared this Rose White Hot Chocolate that is one of my favorite romantic drinks to share with my dude! I’ll be adding links to some of the other recipes shared today.
Check out all the amazing Valentine’s Day recipes and please consider making a donation to this amazing cause!
More Valentine’s Recipes
Heart Sugar Cookies
ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup royal Icing recipe below
- 3-4 drops food color optional
- 10 sheets edible silver foil optional
- ¼ cup sprinkles optional
Royal Icing
- 1 large egg white
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Reduce speed to low. Gradually add the flour mixture until evenly distributed.
- Divide the dough into three equal sections and roll into a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap, and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Bring one disk of dough out to sit out at room temperature until softened, about 10-15 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin until just under 1/4 inch thick. Add more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.
- Cut out cookies with cookie cutters and transfer shapes to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Roll out scraps and repeat.
- Chill cut out cookies in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Transfer to the oven and bake for 13-18 minute, or until golden brown on the edges. Let cool completely on wire racks.
- Meanwhile, make royal icing. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together egg whites and powdered sugar for about 5 minutes. Mixture should be opaque and shiny. Stir in the lemon juice and continue whipping until evenly distributed, about 3 minutes. Icing should be light, fluffy and slightly stiff, but you may need to add more lemon juice (if too dry) or powdered sugar (if too wet) to reach the desired consistency. Add food color if desired.
- Frost the cookies with a metal spatula or piping bag and nozzle. While icing is wet, add sprinkles if desired. Let icing harden completely, around 30 minutes.
- Using a paintbrush and a small cup of water, "paint" pieces of the silver foil or gold foil onto the cookies in a confetti pattern. Let dry.
- Store iced cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
notes
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JulieD says
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for participating in our V-Day event and driving awareness to C4KC’s mission!
Susannah says
Thank you so much for hosting such a great event, Julie!