Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies | Heart Sugar Cookies | Recipe

As I've mentioned before, when we were younger, sugar cookies were a staple for every holiday... which means just six weeks after the Holidays we were ready to make more sugar cookies.

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies are great for a novice sugar cookie decorator. Simple shapes (hearts) in solid colors. Wah-lah, you have a festive looking Valentine's Day treat. I made a couple of Love Birds, too... just couldn't resist. You may remember them from the Baby Bird Baby Shower I hosted for my sister.

Unlike chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies are not cookies you have around the house just to nibble on. They are works of art... making them the perfect small gift to your Valentines - friends, co-workers, and neighbors. You'll find creative packaging ideas for your cookies in this post : Valentine's Day Cookie Packaging Ideas

If you missed the recipe for my sugar cookies from my Christmas Sugar Cookies post, I've included it below :

Sugar Cookie Recipe (24 small cookies)

2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of cream of tarter
1 tsp of baking soda
1 egg

In your Kitchen Aid fitted with the paddle attachement, whip together butter and powdered sugar. Add Flour, vanilla, cream of tarter, soda, and egg. On slow, stir together ingredients just until combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and wrap it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Unwrap the dough and put it on a floured board. Be sure to flour the rolling pin, as well. Roll out dough until 1/4 inch thick.

Cut shapes. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees just until the edges begin to turn brown - baking time will depend on size and thickness of the cookie.

Royal Icing

3 egg whites
4 cups of powdered sugar

In the Kitchen Aid fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until almost frothy. Add in the powdered sugar and whisk on slow until smooth. You may need to add more or less powdered sugar or water to achieve desired thickness. For sugar cookies, you want the icing to be thin enough that it will fall back on itself and smooth itself out, but not too thin so it will run off of the cookie.

Good colors are so important to making professional looking sugar cookies. Here are my tips for a great pink :

Pink Icing : I start with a small amount of the royal icing, I add 1 small drop of red food coloring. Add a 1/2 drop of orange and green food coloring. This will give you a deep pink color. Divide the rest of the white icing in to two or three bowls (depending on how many shades you want). Add small amounts of the pink base to each white bowl in varying amounts.