Description
Valentine’s Slice and Bake Heart Cookies are charming pink and red heart-shaped cookies made with a buttery base, tinted dough, and decorated with sprinkles. These festive treats are perfect for celebrating love and special occasions with a fun, colorful twist.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons unsalted European butter (like Kerrygold), cool room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Additional
- Red gel food coloring
- 1/2-1 cup Pink and white jimmy sprinkles
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside to keep dry and ready for combining.
- Cream Butter and Sugar. In a mixing bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Add Wet Ingredients. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla bean paste until combined evenly with the creamed butter and sugar.
- Combine Dry and Wet. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, forming a dough.
- Divide and Tint Dough. Divide the dough, leaving about half (375-400 grams) in the mixing bowl. Add red gel food coloring to this portion and knead or mix until your desired shade of pink or red is reached.
- Chill Tint Dough. Roll the tinted dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/2 inch thickness, then freeze for 10 minutes to firm up.
- Prepare Plain Dough. Place the remaining plain dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature or refrigerate if needed.
- Cut and Stack Hearts. Use a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut hearts from the chilled red dough. Reroll the scraps once to cut more hearts. Lightly dab centers of hearts with water and stack them carefully, pressing gently to adhere. This will create a single heart-shaped log approximately 9-10 inches long on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze the log for at least 30 minutes until firm.
- Wrap with Plain Dough. Remove the heart log from the freezer and wrap the plain dough around it, ensuring any gaps are fully covered. Wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap and roll it gently to smooth it out. Chill the log in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours or overnight to firm up fully.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Cookies. When ready, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Roll the chilled cookie dough log in the sprinkles, then slice into roughly 1/2-inch thick cookies. Place the cookies on a lined baking sheet, spaced evenly.
- Bake Cookies. Bake the cookies for 9-12 minutes until the bottoms are lightly golden and the tops look matte. For crispier cookies, bake slightly longer but watch carefully to avoid burning.
- Cool and Serve. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool them completely on a wire rack before serving or storing.
Notes
- Measure your dry ingredients properly using the spoon-level method or a kitchen scale for best results. Avoid scooping flour directly as it leads to excess flour use.
- Use room temperature butter that is cool, ideally between 64-68°F, to achieve proper dough consistency for texture and shaping.
- You may use various kinds of sprinkles like sanding sugar, jimmies, pearls, or a mixture according to your preference and occasion.
- Slicing cookies thinner (about 1/4 inch) will result in crispier cookies if desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 9 g
- Sodium: 75 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg
