Pink raspberry buttercream frosting sandwiched between soft, heart-shaped sugar cookies makes the perfect homemade gift for Valentine's Day! These Valentine heart sugar cookies are made with no-chill, no-spread cookie dough that's perfect for making decorated cookie cut outs.
These heart sugar cookies hold a special place in my heart.
My birthday is just a few days before Valentine’s Day, and every year when I was a kid my mom would bake a big batch of these heart sugar cookies and send them in to school for me to share with all my classmates on my birthday.
So even though these cookies are perfect for Valentine’s Day, I’ll always think of them as birthday cookies!
A batch of homemade, heart-shaped cookies is a wonderful way to let your loved ones – or that special someone – know you’re thinking of them on Valentine’s Day. Each sandwich cookie is made of my favorite raspberry buttercream frosting nestled between two soft, buttery sugar cookies. The result is a cookie sandwich that’s delicately sweet and pretty enough to share!
This sugar cookie recipe is my go-to recipe for 3 reasons. 1) It tastes AMAZING! These cookies are buttery and delicate with just the right amount of sweetness. 2) There's no need to chill the dough before rolling it out and baking the cookies. Huge time saver! 3) These sugar cookies won't spread when baking. They hold their shape perfectly, making them ideal for cutting a decorating all sorts of shapes and designs! And did I mention just how delicious they are? You're going to want to bookmark this recipe to make again and again!
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Valentine Heart Sugar Cookies
Special Equipment
- food processor
- Heart-shaped cookie cutters
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 12 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Raspberry Buttercream
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch fine sea salt
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1 Tablespoon whole milk
- 2 Tablespoons raspberry jam or preserves
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Make the cookie dough.
- Place the flour, both sugars, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a food processor and process just until mixed.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and distribute over the flour mixture. Process until the dough resembles coarse meal, about 30 seconds. (See photo in post for reference.)
- Whisk the egg and vanilla together in a small bowl until combined. With the processor running on low speed, pour the egg mixture through the feed tube and process until the dough comes together, about 30 to 60 seconds. (See photo in post for reference.)
- Remove the dough from the processor, place it on a clean surface, and knead it for several seconds, until no dry bits remain and the dough is cohesive throughout.
Cut and bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut 24 cookies using a 3 ½ inch heart shaped cookie cutter. Cut a smaller heart in half of the cookies using a 2 inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Transfer the cookie cutouts to the prepared baking sheets using a spatula and sprinkle granulated sugar over the top of each.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. (You'll know the cookies are finished baking when they're no longer shiny but the edges have not yet turned golden.) Let cookies cool completely on the baking sheet atop a wire rack.
Make the frosting.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using an electric mixer), beat butter on medium-high speed until smooth.
- Add vanilla and salt and beat on medium-high speed until blended.
- Add sugar slowly – one cup at a time – beating well on medium speed and scraping the bowl often. When all sugar is added the frosting will be slightly dry.
- Add milk and raspberry jam and beat on high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy.
Assemble the sandwich cookies.
- Once the cookies are completely cool, spread the full heart cookies with the raspberry buttercream frosting and top with the heart cut out cookies.
Paula
Do you need to use a food processor?
Allison Ferraro
Hi Paula! I have not tried making the sugar cookie dough without a food processor, and I do recommend using one since it will allow you to easily cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients and also to easily blend the egg into the dough. If you want to try the recipe without a food processor, I recommend first whisking the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then cutting the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter before blending the egg and vanilla into the dough using either a stand mixer (with paddle attachment) or an electric hand mixer on low speed, being very careful not to over mix the dough. You can use the process photos in the recipe post as a guide when blending each set of ingredients. If you do try these alternate mixing methods I'd love to know how it turns out! Happy baking!
- Allison