You probably think of making cut-out cookies for Christmas, but they are the perfect dessert year round! You are definitely going to want to make these Valentine Sugar Cut-Out Cookies for your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day!
Cut-out cookies are a classic sweet treat. I know that I remember my Grandma making these cut-out cookies for nearly every holiday… and they are my absolute favorite! And I think your family will love them too.
Cut-out cookies can be tricky to make, so I’m going to share a few secrets with you to make cut-out cookies so good, you will never want to buy a pre-made sugar cookie dough or mix again!
Secrets to making the perfect cut out sugar cookie:
Secret #1 Use a table mixer. This is one of the only recipes that I actually get out the table mixer, but I don’t think that you can make these without it. While you don’t want to over mix and make the dough too tough, it does need to be mixed until it is a stiff dough and a hand mixer just doesn’t do as good.
Sugar Cut-Out Cookies 3 ¾ cups sifted, all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 ½ cups sugar 2 eggs 1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough. Secret #2 For best results, refrigerate for 15 minutes before rolling out cookie dough. Roll dough out on floured counter-top. Make cookies approx. 3/8 inch thick. Secret #3 Divide cookie dough into thirds. Only roll out one-third of the dough at a time. This way, once the dough has been covered in flour and rolled out, the excess will be mixed with fresh dough (that has not been floured or rolled yet), so it keeps it from becoming too tough. Bake 8-10 minutes. Secret #4 Make sure each batch of cookies is approximately the same size and thickness. If cookies are different thickness or size, they will not cook evenly and you will have some that are overcooked, while others may be undercooked. Icing 1 Tbsp butter, room temperature 1 tsp vanilla 2 ½ cup confectioners sugar 3 Tbsp milk Beat butter, vanilla, and confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Add in milk 1 Tbsp at a time. Sugar Cut-Out Cookies
Secret #5 Bake cookies on parchment paper. Ok, this may not be a secret, but baking cookies on parchment paper prevents the cookies from sticking to the cookie sheet. No need to buy a liner, just use parchment paper.
Secret #6 Let cookies sit on baking sheet after you get them our of the oven for at least 30 seconds to 1 minute before trying to move to cooling rack. This is especially important with cut-out cookies because you want them to maintain their shape.
Let cool completely before icing.
If you don think you’re ready to tackle the cut-out cookies, you may want to try making some gourmet chocolates for Valentine’s Day. Delicious… and much cheaper than buying gourmet chocolates…
If you want the great taste of the frosted sugar cookies without the hassle of rolling out dough and using the cookie cutters, you can easily make cookie pops by taking a look at the post detailing how we make these for my son’s birthday treat at school.
ENJOY!
Beautiful cookies! Me and my kiddos are going to make a giant sugar cookie heart this weekend 🙂
These are so beautiful! You’ve convinced me that sugar cookies aren’t just for Christmas time!
I love, love, love cutout cookies. They are delicious and fun to bake! These heart cookies are adorable. I love he cookie pops in the bags too! Lovely!!
I love how simple these are! Im going to try to make some for Valentines day!