Description
Valentine’s Slice and Bake Heart Cookies are charming, buttery treats perfect for celebrating love. These festive cookies feature a delicate vanilla-flavored dough with a vibrant pink and red heart center, surrounded by sprinkles for added texture and color. The dough is carefully chilled to make thin, uniform cookies that bake to a light golden perfection, ideal for gift-giving or sharing at parties.
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, 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 Ingredients
- Red gel food coloring
- 1/2-1 cup pink and white jimmies sprinkles
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix in the egg, egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla bean paste until combined. Gradually mix in the flour mixture until just combined.
- Divide and Tint Dough: Divide the dough in half, leaving about 375-400 grams in the mixing bowl. Add red gel food coloring to this portion and mix until the dough reaches your desired shade of pink or red. Roll the tinted dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/2 inch thick. Freeze for 10 minutes. Cover the remaining plain dough with plastic wrap and set aside.
- 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 additional hearts. Lightly dab the centers of the hearts with water and stack them, pressing gently to adhere. Form a single log about 9–10 inches long on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze the heart log for at least 30 minutes until firm.
- Wrap Heart Log with Plain Dough: Remove the heart log from the freezer. Wrap the plain dough around the heart log, covering all gaps. Wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap and roll it smooth. Chill the dough log in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.
- Preheat Oven and Prepare Cookies: When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Roll the chilled cookie dough log in pink and white jimmies sprinkles. Slice into roughly 1/2-inch thick cookies and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake Cookies: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden and the tops appear matte. For crispier cookies, bake slightly longer but be careful not to burn.
- Cool: Cool the baked cookies 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 with measuring cups.
- Butter should be cool room temperature, ideally between 64-68°F, to achieve the perfect dough consistency.
- You can use any type of sprinkles such as sanding sugar, jimmies, or pearls depending on your preference.
- For crisper cookies, slice the dough log thinner at about 1/4 inch thickness.
- If longer chilling is preferred, the dough can be refrigerated overnight to enhance flavors and texture.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 9 g
- Sodium: 70 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 45 mg
