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Valentine’s Heart Cookie Slice and Bake Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.7 from 17 reviews
  • Author: Sophie
  • Prep Time: 3 hours
  • Chilling and Freezing Time: 3 hours
  • Cook Time: 12 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours 12 minutes
  • Yield: 20 cookies
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Description

These Valentine’s Slice and Bake Heart Cookies are a charming and delicious treat perfect for celebrating love. Featuring a tender buttery dough tinted with vibrant red food coloring, these stacked heart cookies are rolled in festive pink and white sprinkles for a delightful crunch and visual appeal. The recipe involves chilling and freezing steps to ensure the perfect sliceable log, yielding beautifully shaped cookies that are crisp on the edges and soft inside.

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
  • Red gel food coloring, amount as needed

Decorations

  • 1/2-1 cup pink and white jimmy sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Combine Dry Ingredients: In a small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and fine sea salt until evenly mixed. Set this bowl aside.
  2. Cream Butter and Sugar: In a mixing bowl, beat the cool room temperature butter and granulated sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy, which usually takes about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
  3. Add Eggs and Flavorings: Incorporate the large egg, egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla bean paste into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until combined.
  4. Mix in Dry Ingredients: Gradually add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined to form the cookie dough.
  5. Divide and Color Dough: Separate about half of the dough (around 375-400 grams) in the mixing bowl. Add red gel food coloring to this portion and mix thoroughly until you reach your desired shade of pink or red.
  6. Chill Colored Dough: Roll the tinted dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/2 inch thickness and freeze for 10 minutes to firm it up. Meanwhile, cover the remaining plain dough with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature.
  7. Cut and Stack Hearts: Using a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts from the chilled red dough. Re-roll scraps once to maximize dough use. Lightly moisten the center of each red heart with water and stack two hearts together, pressing gently to adhere. Arrange these stacked hearts to form a single log about 9–10 inches long on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  8. Freeze Heart Log: Place the heart log in the freezer for at least 30 minutes until it becomes firm.
  9. Wrap with Plain Dough: Remove the heart log from the freezer. Wrap the remaining plain dough evenly around the heart log, covering all gaps. Wrap the entire log tightly in plastic wrap and use your hands to roll it into a smooth, even log shape.
  10. Chill the Cookie Log: Refrigerate the wrapped dough log for at least 2 to 3 hours or preferably overnight to allow the dough to firm up for slicing.
  11. Prepare to Bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Unwrap the chilled dough log and roll it carefully in pink and white jimmy sprinkles to coat the exterior evenly.
  12. Slice and Arrange Cookies: Slice the log into approximately 1/2-inch thick cookies. Arrange the cookie slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them slightly apart.
  13. Bake the Cookies: Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly golden and the tops have a matte finish. For crisper cookies, bake a bit longer while monitoring to avoid burning.
  14. Cool: Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before serving or storing.

Notes

  • Measure your dry ingredients properly using the spoon-level method or a kitchen scale to avoid using too much flour, which can make cookies dense.
  • Ensure the butter is cool room temperature, ideally between 64-68°F, to achieve the right dough texture.
  • You can substitute sprinkles for sanding sugar, pearls, or any festive mix for a different decorative effect.
  • For crispier cookies, slice the dough log thinner, about 1/4 inch thick, before baking.
  • The dough requires several chilling and freezing steps to maintain the structure of the heart shapes and enable easy slicing.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cookie
  • Calories: 150 kcal
  • Sugar: 10 g
  • Sodium: 90 mg
  • Fat: 8 g
  • Saturated Fat: 5 g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
  • Trans Fat: 0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 18 g
  • Fiber: 0.5 g
  • Protein: 2 g
  • Cholesterol: 45 mg

Find it online: https://cozydumpling.com/valentines-heart-cookie-slice-and-bake-recipe/