Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

The Best Sugar Cookies To Sweeten Up Your Valentine’s Day

Since I know everyone doesn’t have a TON of time on their hands, I wanted to share the easiest, but most delicious sugar cookie recipe to help you sweeten up you Valentine’s Day!

While most sugar cookie recipes require at least an hour for you to chill the dough, this is a NO CHILL sugar cookie recipe. But, don’t be fooled, just because you are taking a “shortcut” in time, you are NOT taking a shortcut on taste!

The Recipe

cookie Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. In a bowl (using a hand held mixer) or stand mixer - cream butter and sugar until smooth, About 2 -4 minutes

3. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts along with the egg.

4. In a separate bowl combine flower and powder (mix well). Then, slowly add to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff, so once it gets too stiff for your mixer, dump it onto a lightly floured counter top surface. You will then knead the dough by hand.

   Tip: Wet your hands to finish off kneading the dough by hand.

5. THIS DOUGH DOES NOT GET CHILLED. Once you are finished kneading, simply divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut using heart shaped cookie cutters. You want these cookies are better when they are a bit thicker, so aim for about 1/4" thickness.

6. Bake at 350 for about 7-8 minutes (or until lightly browned underneath). Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Cookie ingredients:

• 1 Cup salted butter

• 1 Cup granulated white sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

• 1 egg

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3 cups all purpose flour

royal icing directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients except for food coloring and mix with a rubber spatula. It will take a good 2-3 minutes for it to become smooth and glossy.

2. Once it is a smooth and glossy consistency, go ahead and add you desired food coloring.

   Tip: If you are planning to use more than 1 color, divide your mixture into separate bowls (1 for each color) and THEN add your desired colors to each bowl.

3. If the icing is TOO runny, you will need to add more powdered sugar (a tsp at a time). If it is too stiff, you will need to add more water (a tsp at a time).

4. Frost your cookies how ever you would like. I personally like to dip them into the icing and use a knife to smooth things out if necessary.

5. Make sure you give the icing at least 30 minutes to harden on the cookies before transferring them anywhere.

Royal icing ingredients:

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 6 teaspoons water

• 4 teaspoons light corn syrup 

• 1/2-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2-1 teaspoon almond extract

• Pinch of salt to help balance out the sweetness

• Food Coloring