Description
These Valentine’s Slice and Bake Heart Cookies are delicate, buttery, and perfect for celebrating love. Featuring a layered pink heart center wrapped in classic buttery dough and decorated with sprinkles, they offer a festive, beautiful treat that’s easy to make with a chill-and-slice method perfect for prepping ahead.
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 (like Kerrygold), 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 jimmie 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 to ensure even mixing.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Mix in the large egg, egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla bean paste until combined.
- Combine with Dry Ingredients: Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined to form the dough.
- Divide and Color Dough: Divide the dough in half, leaving about half (375-400 grams) in the mixing bowl. Add red gel food coloring to the divided half, mixing until you achieve the desired pink or red shade.
- Chill Colored Dough: Roll the tinted dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/2 inch thickness. Freeze for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, place the remaining plain dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.
- Cut Heart Shapes: Use a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut hearts from the chilled red dough. Re-roll scraps once and cut additional hearts.
- Assemble Heart Log: Lightly dab the center of each red heart 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 for at least 30 minutes until firm.
- Wrap with Plain Dough: Remove the heart log from the freezer. Wrap the plain dough around the heart log, smoothing to cover all gaps. Wrap the assembled log in plastic wrap and roll it into a smooth log shape.
- Chill Dough Log: Refrigerate the dough log for at least 2-3 hours or overnight for best results.
- Preheat Oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Decorate and Slice: Roll the chilled cookie dough log in pink and white jimmie sprinkles. Slice the log into roughly 1/2-inch thick cookies and place them on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake Cookies: Bake for 10 minutes until the bottoms are lightly golden and the tops appear matte. For crispier cookies, bake a couple minutes longer.
- Cool: Cool the cookies on a wire rack before handling or storing.
Notes
- Measure dry ingredients using the spoon-level method or a kitchen scale for accuracy; avoid scooping flour directly with measuring cups to prevent using too much.
- Butter should be cool but not too soft, ideally 64-68°F, for proper creaming and dough texture.
- You can substitute sprinkles with sanding sugar, pearls, or any decorative sugar blends you prefer.
- Slice cookies thinner, about 1/4 inch thick, if you prefer crispier cookies.
