It’s Valentine’s Day, and if you want to bake something sweet at home try these Easy Valentine’s Cookies with Pink Icing. They are the ultimate ‘save-the-day’ recipe. You can’t go wrong with butter and sugar on Valentine’s Day, a holiday made just for desserts!
First make the sugar cookies by placing 2/3 cups of softened butter in a stand mixer ( or you can use a large bowl with hand mixer) Add ¾ cups of sugar or a sugar subsitude and mix for 3 minutes, until combined and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, then beat on high for a few more minutes, making sure it is mixed well.
In a separate bowl, mix salt and baking powder into the flour. Then add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Add a tiny bit more flour if dough is too wet or more water if too dry.
Place on parchment paper or a slightly floured surface and form into 2 balls, then roll out each ball into 1/3 to ½ inch thickness.
Using parchment paper between the dough, place in refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut cookies into shapes with cookie cutters, place on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-3 minutes, until edges are lighly golden.
Take out the pan from oven and let sit a couple minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Place the next pan of unbaked cookies into the oven. Once they are all done make sure they cookies are cooled enough before icing.
To make Royal Icing: Using the stand mixer with clean bowl ( or you can use a large bowl with hand mixer), beat the two egg whites (make sure they are fresh) and cream of tartar until frothy for 1-2 minutes.
Add the powdered sugar slowly ¼ cup at a time until mixed. Then add the vanilla and beat on high speed until it becomes glossy with stiff peaks. Add small amounts of powdered sugar if icing needs to thicken or water to thin it.
Spoon icing into small bowls and add food color one drop at a time and mix in to get desired shade. I used red to get pink. It was about 2-3 drops of plant based color for a light pink and 5-6 for a darker.
Spoon icing into piping bags with tip #1 or #2. I had #1-4 and #13 also. Or you can use a ziplock bag with a tiny corner cut off. Decorate your cookies any way you like and add sprinkles and gold dust.
Have a wonderful Valentine’s weekend with lots of fun baking and tasty sweet treats!
Easy Valentine’s Sugar Cookies with Pink Royal Icing
Ingredients
Sugar Cookies
- 2/3 cup butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Pink Royal Icing
- 2 egg whites fresh, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- red food coloring - plant based
Instructions
Sugar Cookies
- Ina stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 3 minutes until creamy
- Add the egg and vanilla, beating on high for a few minutes until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking powder
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until a dough forms. Add a tiny bit more flour if dough is too wet.
- Form dough into 2 balls. Roll them out on sheets of parchment paper to 1/3or 1/2 inch thickness.
- Stack the rolled dough and refrigerate for 1 hour
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Use heart-shaped cutters to stamp out your cookies.
- Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined sheet. Bake for 11–13 minutes until the edges are lightly golden.
- Let them rest on pan for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack. They must be completely cool before icing.
Pink Royal Icing
- Beat egg whites and cream of tartar for 1–2 minutes until frothy.
- Slowly add powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time). Add vanilla and beat onhigh until the icing is glossy and holds stiff peaks. If too runny, add more sugar; if too stiff, add a drop of water.
- Divide icing into bowls. Add red food coloring drop-by-drop (2-3 drops for light pink, 5-6 for dark pink).
- Fill into piping bag with a #1 or #2 tip (or a snipped Ziploc) to ice the cookies. Add gold dust & sprinkles
