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Easy Heart Sugar Cookies

iced valentine cookies on a cooling rack with a bowl of icing next to them
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These simple heart sugar cookies are dipped in royal icing (no piping necessary) and dappled with gold food coloring, making them every bit as elegant as they are tasty.

  • Author: Claire | The Simple, Sweet Life
  • Prep Time: 8 houra
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 7 hours 10 minutes
  • Yield: 24 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

Sugar cookies:

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all purpose flour

Royal icing:

  • 1/4 cup meringue powder or powdered egg whites
  • 1/2 cup lukewarm water
  • 1 lb powdered sugar
  • Optional: 1 tsp of an extract of your choice

Instructions

  1. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth.
  2. Add the sugar and continue beating until thoroughly combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract and repeat.
  3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour one cup at a time, mixing between each new addition.
  4. The dough should be firm, easily peel away from the bowl and no longer sticky.
  5. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
  6. Once the dough is chilled, roll it out to 1/4″ thick on a lightly floured surface.
  7. Cut out with heart cookie cutters.
  8. Bake the dough at 350F for 8-10 minutes or until no longer shiny on top.
  9. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the meringue powder/powdered egg whites and lukewarm water.
  10. Use a whip attachment to whip the mixture on high until frothy. Scrap down the sides as you go to make sure there’s no residual powder.
  11. Sift the powdered sugar and add it to bowl. Continue whipping the icing, this time on medium speed. Stop the machine every 2-3 minutes to scrape down the sides.
  12. If you’re adding additional flavoring to your royal icing, you can add it during one of the stops to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  13. Whip the royal icing until you’ve reached a 10 second consistency.
  14. Pour the icing into a shallow bowl until it's about 1/2" deep.
  15. Add food coloring of your choosing to the surface of the royal icing and swirl with a toothpick.
  16. Dip the top of your cookies into the royal icing.
  17. Gently shake off any extra, turn the cookies right side up and set aside.
  18. Add a little clear alcohol to your gold food coloring and use a clean, food-only brush to splatter it onto the cookies.
  19. Allow the icing to dry completely (at least 8 hours or overnight).

Nutrition

Find it online: https://thesimple-sweetlife.com/heart-cookies/