Description
Delicious homemade sugar cookies, perfect for celebrating Valentine’s Day with personalized touches.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (or 1:1 gluten-free flour blend)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or ½ teaspoon almond extract)
- ¼ teaspoon pure almond extract (optional)
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons meringue powder
- 5–6 tablespoons warm water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Food coloring (optional)
- Decorative sprinkles and edible glitter (optional)
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract, beating until fully incorporated.
- Gradually add dry ingredients on low speed until just combined.
- Chill the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll one disc of dough to ¼-inch thickness and cut with heart-shaped cookie cutters.
- Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool before decorating.
- Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder in a stand mixer, adding water and vanilla extract.
- Transfer icing to piping bags and decorate cookies as desired.
- Allow icing to dry completely, about 8 hours.
Notes
For a healthier version, substitute half the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour and reduce sugar by 25%.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 120
- Sugar: 7g
- Sodium: 60mg
- Fat: 6g
- Saturated Fat: 3.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
Keywords: Valentine's Day, sugar cookies, baking, dessert, heart-shaped