Heart Sugar Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix well.
• Put a handful of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to desired thickness. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Put the rolled dough, including the parchment paper, on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer. Repeat the process with scraps after cutting cookies.
• Cut 24 heart-shaped cookies of the same size from the dough. Use a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut a second hole in half of the cookies; this will be the window where the jam will show through. Transfer the cut cookies to a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack to allow to cool, 20 to 30 minutes. Spread about 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the centers of the cookies without the heart-cut centers. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the rest of the cookies with the heart-cut centers, and mount onto the cookies with jam.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
• Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
• Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator, and decorate with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Steps:

• Prepare dough as directed and chill for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle a work surface and rolling pin with confectioner's sugar and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick. Move dough frequently to prevent it from sticking and add more confectioner's sugar to the work surface and rolling pin as needed. With a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 72 dough rounds, re-rolling dough as needed. With a small heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 1 1/2-by-1-inch), cut hearts from the center of half the dough rounds. Place the rounds and cutouts about 1 inch apart on parchment -lined baking sheets. Bake until just set but not brown, about 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the pan slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, butter, confectioner's sugar, and pomegranate juice until smooth and fluffy. Spread about 1 teaspoon filling on each round cookie and top with a cut-out cookie. Place a red candy heart in the center of each. Leftover filling can be used to sandwich the small hearts together.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.
• Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until fluffy. Add 1 egg, allowing it to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next with the vanilla extract.
• Dissolve cream of tartar in milk; beat into the butter mixture. Add 4 cups flour and pinch of salt; beat until doughy.
• Spread 1 cup flour onto a flat work surface. Roll the dough out on the prepared surface; cut out in desired shapes until all dough is used.
• Bake on non-stick baking sheets in preheated oven until cookies are set in the middle, about 12 minutes.

Steps:

• In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
• Beat in vanilla.
• Combine the flour and cocoa; gradually add to creamed mixture.
• On a lightly floured surface roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
• Cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter placing 2-inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.
• Remove to wire racks to cool.
• In a microwave safe bowl, heat vanilla chips and 1 Tablespoon of shortening until melted, stirring frequently. Dip both sides of the cookie into melted mixture (so you make a V-shape from the point of the cookie out to the middle of both rounded tops).
• In another microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and remaining shortening, stirring frequently.
• Drizzle over the cookies.
• Place on wire rack to dry.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, cream butter and gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in egg substitute and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour and baking powder; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Shape dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 1-3/4-in. heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes or until set and bottoms are light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Steps:

• Cookies: In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic and freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Remove 1 disk of dough; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of floured parchment, dusting with flour as needed. Cut shapes with 2 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutters. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets (if dough gets too soft, refrigerate 10 minutes). Reroll scraps and cut more shapes. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
• Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. (If bubbles form, tap baking sheet firmly against oven rack a few times during baking.) Let cool completely on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to 1 week.
• Royal Icing: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine confectioners' sugar and egg white on low speed. Add a scant 1/4 cup water, then increase speed to medium-high and mix until icing holds a ribbon-like trail on surface for 3 seconds when you raise paddle, about 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low and mix 1 minute more to eliminate air bubbles. Divide icing and add food color, a drop at a time, until desired color is reached to one half. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 3 days. Stir well before using.
• Decorating: Pour white icing into a bowl, hold a cookie face down, and gently dip it in, letting excess drip off and tapping gently to remove bubbles. Arrange iced cookies end to end. Let dry completely, then brush across each cookie diagonally with pink "paint." For gold specks, dot on edible luster dust mixed with a bit of lemon or other clear extract.