Valentine’s Sugar Cookies are made with rolled sugar cookie dough and decorated with royal icing. Sugar Cookies with royal icing are simple to make and so great for every occasion.
I always love something homemade, because not many people make things from scratch. Most people buy Valentine’s Day trinkets to handout for school treats. But, I love something homemade and made with love.
For more Valentine’s day DIY gift ideas try making Mixed Berry Jam, Raspberry Oatmeal Bars, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, and Chewy Brownies.
The last few days I’ve been working on these sugar cookies. I used Rolled Sugar Cookies and either double or triple the recipe.
The first step is to make a basic rolled sugar cookie dough. Refrigerate it for a few hours or even overnight. For my schedule, making a batch of cookie dough at night and make the cookies the next day. By the time they are baked, I’m ready for an afternoon and evening of decorating.
I used the Wilton Comfort Grip Heart Cutter. Roll out your dough to about ¼-inch to ½-inch thick and cut your hearts out. Set them on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (I love sheets of parchment paper, rather than a roll of parchment paper!) Bake at 400 degrees F for about 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let cool completely before decorating with royal icing.
How to make Royal Icing:
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, beat all ingredients at medium speed until icing forms peaks and loses its sheen, 7-10 minutes.
Step 2: If peaks are not forming, increase the mixer speed and continue to beat. To prevent drying, cover the bowl with a damp cloth while working with icing.
How to Decorate Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing:
Step 1: Pipe outside edges with a thicker royal icing. Then go back and “flood” the entire cookie with thinner royal icing. Thin the icing out with a little bit of egg white. Stir together with a spoon and see how your consistency looks before placing the icing into a pastry bag. I use a wooden sandwich toothpick to help spread the icing to the edges. But, you can also buy a special tool to do this method. (My theory is to use what you have already!) On some of the cookies, while the flood icing was wet, I made white flood icing drops. Then pulled the toothpick to create hearts. On others, wait until the cookie is completely dry, then add the roses you made, after they dry thoroughly and add leaves with a leaf tip.
Or, you can use a 15 to 20 second royal icing and outline the cookie, then flood it.
While my cookie dough chills I make royal icing roses. You can find the royal icing recipe on the back of Wilton’s meringue powder. Make sure that your mixing bowl and all utensils are free of any grease. If you get any sort of grease on your mixing bowl, rubber spatula or work area, the icing won’t whip up and become stiff. So be sure and keep everything grease free!
You’ll need a few supplies from Wilton, including meringue powder, flower tip set, flower nail, couplers, and disposable pastry bags. (You can find Wilton Cake Decorating products in Walmart, Michael’s or on Amazon.) If you buy a small Wilton Cake decorating set, it will come with pretty much everything you need, plus a great little storage container.
How to make royal icing flowers:
Step 1: To make roses, you’ll use tip #104. Color the royal icing your desired color. I started with pale pink, and striped a small amount of pale yellow up the pastry bag before I filled it with pink. Then towards the end, just added white. This gave me a more natural looking rose and different variations.
Step 2: Cut parchment paper into strips, and then into little squares. Set aside a nice pile of parchment squares. Place a coupler inside a disposable pastry bag. Place your tip #104 on and then twist on the ring to hold the tip in place. Fill your pastry bag with some royal icing.
Step 3: Stick a little icing onto the flower nail, press that into a parchment square. Then, start by making a small mound of icing. Pipe the center of the rose, with the thin part of the tip up.
Pipe petals. Start on one side, pipe a petal about half way around the center you just make. Go up and then back down and spin the flower nail as you work. Continue to do this to build the entire rose. You want to overlap each petal a bit.
Let the royal icing flowers dry. Carefully slide the parchment square with rose onto a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Let dry completely, overnight, before removing from the squares of paper. Store in an airtight container in a cool place for extended time periods.
After the cookies are dry, I bag them up in a food safe plastic bag and close with a twist tie. You can add a brown Kraft tag and hand write details.
For more great recipes be sure and try Cream Puffs with Pastry Cream, Caramel Apples, Homemade Pie Crust, Chocolate Whoopie Pies, and Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting.
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Decorated Heart Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Rolled Sugar Cookie Dough
- 1 ½ cups butter softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Royal icing
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 5 tablespoons water
Instructions
Rolled Sugar Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl, using a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined thoroughly. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally.
- Place the cookie dough into a large zip-style bag and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to about ½-inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place the cookies carefully onto parchment lined half sheet pans, leaving a little space for them to expand.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool completely before decorating.
- During the baking process, rotate your baking pans.
Royal Icing
- In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, beat all ingredients at medium speed until icing forms peaks and loses its sheen, 7-10 minutes.
- If peaks are not forming, increase the mixer speed and continue to beat. To prevent drying, cover the bowl with a damp cloth while working with icing.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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Irina says
These cookies look stunning! I have been scarred to decorate cookies with royal icing till the moment I found your recipe. Reading your explanations brings me confidence.. I think I can make it!
Jessica Robinson says
Thanks Irina!! They are super simple to make once you get the royal icing consistency correct.