These heart shaped frosted sugar cookies are decorated with pink buttercream frosting and heart themed sprinkles for an easy Valentine's day dessert! These cookies are similar to the iconic Lofthouse style cookies with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture and sweet vanilla frosting!
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Why You'll Love These Cookies
These heart shaped frosted sugar cookies are an easy fun treat for Valentine's Day!
- Delish with or without the buttercream
- Super easy to make and decorate!
- They're light, buttery, and not too sweet
- A fun project for the kids to help with!
You might also like these heart shaped linzer cookies or these strawberry shortbread cookies!
Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make these frosted sugar cookies!
Most of the ingredients in these cookies are pantry staples with a couple exceptions.
Almond extract - I love using almond extract for a little extra flavor in these cookies but you can leave it out if you prefer!
Pink food coloring - I used a few drops of pink gel food coloring in the frosting but you can stick with just white or any other fun color you want! For these cookies I used AmeriColor Soft Pink.
How to Make Sugar Cookies
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the room temperature butter and sugar until fully combined.
Then add in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and mix until fully combined and fluffy.
Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until the dough comes together into a ball. It should be very soft, but not sticky.
Divide in half and press the dough into discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of at least 2 hours).
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to your desired thickness (I like between ¼ and ½ inch thick). Then cut out the cookies into your desired shapes.
For these heart shaped sugar cookies, I used these heart cookie cutters. But you can use whatever cookie cutters you want! This recipe makes about 40 heart cookies in various sizes, but will make more or less depending on the cookie cutters you use.
Place the heart cookies 1-2 inches apart on your lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes before baking. This ensures the cookies keep their shape.
While the cookies are chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the edges are set. Bake on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely before frosting.
Dollop about 1 tablespoon of buttercream frosting on top of the cookies and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Then garnish with Valentine's sprinkles if desired!
Tips for Perfect Cookies
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies that don't spread.
Make sure your oven is the proper temperature! Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is exactly 350°F. If the oven is too cold, the cookies will spread too much and if it's too hot they centers won't bake all the way through. For example, my oven is about 20 degrees off. So I have to set the oven to 370°F in order to get it to bake at 350°F.
Use a lightweight, light colored baking sheet for best results! Believe it or not, a lighter pan makes the cookies bake more slowly than a dark pan, which helps keep them from spreading too much. My favorite pans for baking cookies are:
You also want to use either parchment paper or silicone mats on your cookie sheet to help keep the cookies from spreading.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, on the center rack. This will ensure all your cookies cook evenly and the bottoms don't burn. Then let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches. This ensures the cookies cook evenly and don't spread too much by being put on a hot pan.
Always under-bake the cookies! If you slightly under-bake the cookies (so the centers are still soft when you remove them from the oven), they'll stay soft and chewy for days!
Do the cookie scoot! In order to get perfectly round cookies, use a large cookie cutter to gently scoot them around as soon as they come out of the oven!
Cookie Decorating Tips
I am by no means an expert cookie decorator, so I like to keep things simple with these frosted sugar cookies!
I just use an offset spatula (or the back of a spoon) to spread the buttercream on the cookies, then top with some fun Valentine's Day sprinkles! They only take a few minutes and look great!
Recipe FAQ's
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Chilling the cookie dough allows the flour to hydrate a bit and ensures the butter is super cold. This keeps your cookies from spreading too much and completely flattening out. It also ensures the sugar cookies keep their heart shape!
Yes! You can freeze either the dough or the baked cookies! To freeze the dough, wrap tightly and then place in a freezer safe bag for 2-3 months. Let thaw in the fridge overnight before using. Baked cookies [unfrosted] can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let thaw and then decorate as desired!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Heart Shaped Frosted Sugar Cookies
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3-4 drops pink gel food coloring, optional
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed
- Valentine's sprinkles
Instructions
Cookies
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the room temperature butter and sugar until fully combined.
- Then add in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and mix until fully combined and fluffy.
- Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until the dough comes together into a ball. It should be very soft, but not sticky.
- Divide in half and press the dough into discs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of at least 2 hours).
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to your desired thickness (I like between ¼ and ½ inch thick). Then cut out the cookies into your desired shapes.
- For these heart shaped sugar cookies, I used these heart cookie cutters. But you can use whatever cookie cutters you want! This recipe makes about 40 heart cookies in various sizes, but will make more or less depending on the cookie cutters you use.
- Place the heart cookies 1-2 inches apart on your lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes before baking. This ensures the cookies keep their shape.
- While the cookies are chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the edges are set. Bake on the middle rack of the oven and rotate the pan halfway through baking for the best results.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let them finish cooling on a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the vanilla extract, pink food coloring, and heavy cream. Beat the buttercream for 3-4 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Dollop about 1 tablespoon of buttercream frosting on top of the cookies and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Then garnish with Valentine's sprinkles if desired!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Gianna says
Best sugar cookie recipe. I’ve tried others and this one comes out tasty and perfect every time.