The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies (2024)

Get the recipe for the The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies ever!

It’s a tradition in my house to make heart shaped cut out sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day, and these Valentine sugar cookies aresimply the best.

I mean, we make this sugar cookie recipe for every holiday!

We get our love for sugar cookies from our mom. Who in turn got it from her mother. So the tradition of making sugar cookies for the holidays (Valentine’s Day included) runs deep!

Our mom has even gifted each of her grandchildren this darling children’s book about love and sugar cookies!

We shared this recipe with you for Christmas, and honestly, it’s too good to not share again! This year, I made five different shades of pink to frost my cookies with. These ombre cuties are gorgeous on a platter and even cuter in a Ball jar to give away as a gift.

You can download the “How Sweet It Is” label here. Read more to see the recipe for the best Valentine sugar cookies and the tempting photos 🙂 I’ve already eaten almost all the cookies…

We also have made mini colorful versions of these cookies as well as a modern color block look!

Read more for The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies recipe.

The Best Valentine Sugar Cookies Recipe

Best Cookie Sheet

This is the absolute BEST cookie sheet to use for making big batches of sugar cookies.

Wiltons Mega Cookie Sheet (non-stick) – it is HUGE! Depending on cookie cutter, you can fit about 28 cookies on one cookie sheet. Love this thing!

We love this heart shaped cookie cutter as well!

The key to soft sugar cookies

The key to a good sugar cookie in our opinion is that it is soft and not thin and crispy. (although some love the thin and crispy cookie) And the biggest reason to get the soft cookie is to (in our opinion) under cook the cookie. This means do not let the edges start to brown. You also want to roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch (or more).

Favorite TIP: Make dough ahead of time

Another thing we love about this recipe is that you can make the dough ahead of time. You can refrigerate or freeze the dough. If you refrigerate, wrap in plastic wrap and leave in fridge for 24 hours. So it is easy to make the day ahead.

This feels like such a time saver. Honestly, most of the time we make homemade cookies, we made the dough ahead of time and keep in the fridge. It is easier to scoop or roll and cut this way!

Or very often our mom makes the sugar cookie dough, wraps in plastic wrap keeps it in the freezer for up to 6-8 weeks. Just make sure and thaw in fridge the day before you will use the dough. You can just pop it in the fridge.

Why do you chill the sugar cookie dough before baking?

This is a super common baking trick. This helps in rolling out the dough, cutting with cookie cutter and then not having the dough spread out too much when baking. Essentially it helps the cookie hold its shape in the oven. We do this for most homemade cookie dough.

Can you freeze sugar cookies

A great thing about making homemade cut out sugar cookies is that you can make them ahead of time. Often we will make the dough, cut out the cookies and bake a week prior to Valentine’s Day. You can keep in an air tight container in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for up to three months.

Again, this is a time saving tip that we love! Ok, now for the recipe…

This recipe makes roughly 3 dozen cookies. But this all depends on the size cookie cutter you use and how thick you make the cookies.

Valentine Sugar Cookie Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature (we use unsalted butter)

1 cup sugar (granulated)

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

1 egg

1 teaspoon water (a bit more if needed)

3 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

How to make sugar cookies

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.

Add egg and water. Beat until light and fluffy.

In a new bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Sift together.

Blend dry mixture into creamed mixture, divide dough in half. Wrap each half in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for one hour.

When you are ready to roll your dough, make sure and flour your working surface. If your dough feels too sticky, add a little bit of flour. If your dough seems to dry, add a tiny bit of water and kneed.

*Some people ask about the dough being a little crumbly. If this is the case, too much flour was probably used. So just add a bit more water to the dough.

Roll your dough on the floured surface with a rolling pin. We like to roll our about a quarter inch thick.

Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Watch them carefully. Take out of oven before edges turn brown.

Note – every oven cooks differently. Some ovens bake better at 350 instead of 375.Some ovens bake the cookies great at 375 for 6 minutes, while others bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Homemade Icing recipe

Start with 2 cups of powdered sugar.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Of course you can use more butter if you would like!

Stir in teaspoons of milk one at a time until you reach desired consistency.

Ombre Icing Effect

To get the ombre frosting effect for these cookies, all you have to do is make five different shades of pink frosting. I just portion out five bowls of icing, then add somepink food coloring bit by bit to each bowl until I achieve the colors I’m looking for.

Then frost those sweet Valentine sugar cookies up! We love using the gel food coloring to get the rich and bright colors.

We hopeThe Best Valentine Sugar Cookies will become a Valentine’s tradition for your family!

More Valentine’s Recipes and Crafts

Make sure and check out more of our Valentine’s content HERE.

We would love to see your cookies! Tag us on instagram @aliceandlois

all photos by Melissa for alice & lois design studios, all rights reserved.

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