Description
These Valentine’s Day Slice N’ Bake Cookies are a festive and fun treat perfect for celebrating the holiday. Featuring a buttery, tender cookie dough dyed in pink and red hues and shaped into heart cutouts, these cookies are coated in colorful nonpareil sprinkles for a cheerful finish. The slice-and-bake method makes them easy to prepare ahead of time, then simply slice and bake when ready for perfectly uniform and charmingly decorated cookies ideal for gifting or sharing at Valentine’s Day gatherings.
Ingredients
Scale
Dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (1 cup)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
Coloring and Decoration
- Pink gel food coloring
- Red gel food coloring
- Valentine’s Day nonpareil sprinkles
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients: In a bowl, combine the all-purpose flour and baking powder. Set this mixture aside for later incorporation.
- Cream butter and sugar: Using an electric mixer, beat together the granulated sugar and softened unsalted butter until the mixture is creamy and light, which should take about 2 minutes.
- Add egg and extracts: Beat in the large egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract until fully combined and smooth.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients: Gradually spoon the flour and baking powder mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing gently with a spatula just until the dough forms and is well incorporated.
- Divide and color dough: Remove roughly one-third of the dough and divide it into two separate portions. Add red gel food coloring to one portion and pink gel food coloring to the other. Knead each portion until the color is evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Roll and cut shapes: Roll each colored dough portion out to about ½ inch thickness. Use a lightly floured 1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes from the dough. Gather scraps, re-roll, and cut more shapes until the dough is used up.
- Chill heart cutouts: Arrange the heart cutouts in a line on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Prepare outer dough ropes: Ten minutes before removing the hearts from the fridge, roll the remaining plain (uncolored) dough into long, narrow ropes that are long enough to encircle the heart shapes lengthwise.
- Wrap hearts with dough ropes: Carefully place the dough ropes around the chilled heart cutouts, gently pressing the ropes in place to fully encase each heart shape.
- Coat with sprinkles: Spread Valentine’s Day nonpareil sprinkles in a shallow dish. Roll each dough-wrapped heart gently in the sprinkles so that all sides are coated evenly.
- Final chill: Wrap the coated dough logs tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight to firm up before slicing.
- Slice and bake: Once well chilled, slice the dough logs into ½ inch thick cookies. Place the slices on a baking sheet spaced at least 1 inch apart. Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF (175ºC) for 8-10 minutes until the edges are just set.
- Cool the cookies: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes after baking to firm up, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store properly: Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container to maintain freshness and enjoy within several days.
Notes
- Make sure your butter is softened, not melted, for the best creaming results.
- Use gel food coloring to avoid altering the dough consistency.
- Chilling the dough is crucial for clean slices and to maintain the cookie shape during baking.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
- Feel free to customize the sprinkles or use other shapes to suit different occasions.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 140
- Sugar: 8g
- Sodium: 60mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Fiber: 0.5g
- Protein: 1.5g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
