This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Doingthe99 #99YourValentinesDay #CollectiveBias
Love is in the air–and so is the aroma of these adorable slice-and-bake heart sugar cookies!
Last weekend, about 20 of us squished into my tiny apartment to eat dinner and bake Valentine’s Day cookies together. Since we needed a lot of dough (but had very little to spare from our wallets), I nipped over to 99 Cents Only to pick up flour, sugar, and all that jazz that I needed that night for our baking/dinner party! They have my favorite name brands at student-friendly prices, so shopping there really is a one-stop shop kind of deal for lucky me 😉
While I was there, though, I also found these super cute V-day cards (for under a dollar! Whoo!) and just couldn’t resist snatching up a few for my friends. Guess you never know what you’ll find when you shop at the 99, eh? I’ll be writing them next week, so if you’re lucky one might just be headed your way soon!
The best part of this whole experience–shopping at the 99, making messy heart shapes out of red cookie dough and wrapping them in even more sugar cookie dough, and eating merrily at my place–was just spending time with some of my favorite people in the world. Best of all, since these dough logs needed to be chilled overnight before baking, we had an impromptu picnic the following Wednesday to enjoy the fruits (or hearts) of our labor!
So as you can see, this V-Day I have tons to celebrate: friends, cookies, and just about everything I need at unbeatable prices for a day filled with love. Wishing all of you the very same! (Hint: making these adorable cookies for loved ones are a great start–learn how to make your own in the recipe below!)
With love,
Slice-and-Bake Heart Sugar Cookies: How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day (on a Budget You’ll Love!)
These adorable slice-and-bake heart sugar cookies are the perfect gift for someone special on Valentine's Day! All you need is a bit of patience and a lot of love.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, room temperature
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Red gel food coloring
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter
Instructions
To prepare the dough:
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Using a spatula, gently fold in flour, baking powder, and salt until just incorporated.
- Transfer 1/3 dough into another large bowl. Add about 4-7 drops of food coloring, using your hands to massage the color in evenly throughout the dough. (Add additional coloring as needed to achieve a fairly bright red color--you can also flour your hands to keep the dough from sticking.)
- Chill dough for at least 3-4 hours.
To assemble cookies:
- Line two large cutting boards with parchment paper, taping down the corners as needed to keep the paper from curling up as you work with dough. Flour a rolling pin and roll each of the doughs out to 1-inch thickness.
- Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter (no bigger than 2 inches if possible) to punch out heart shapes in the red dough. Stack the hearts horizontally. Re-gather the dough scraps and flatten out; punch out more heart shapes and continue stacking until you have finished using as much of your dough as possible.
- Working with a few stacked hearts at a time, gently handle your flattened plain dough and wrap it around the hearts to form a circular log. Be careful not to squish the hearts as you do so.
- Wrap the finished logs with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 6-8 hours (or overnight). If you are having trouble lifting the logs from the parchment paper, simply wrap the top of the logs and place entire cutting board in freezer.
To bake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
- Unwrap logs and place on a cutting board. Slice to 1/2-inch thickness with a sharp knife, then set cut-side down on prepared sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges and just set. Allow to cool on stovetop for 5 minutes before enjoying!
Sounds like a fun happening! And who doesn’t like to save a bit of money? Butter for me, though — haven’t used margarine in years. Decades! Fun post — thanks.
haha yeah, I re-discovered butter again only a few years ago (weird, right?) and have to agree. Thanks, John!
What a fun Valentine’s Day idea, Ala! I love a good slice and bake sugar cookie, and I’m super impressed that you made these from scratch. But more importantly, it looks like you had a bunch of fun with friends making (and eating!) these cookies, and that’s what counts! Thanks for sharing! #client
Thanks so much, David! Cheers!
I absolutely love that you made your own slice and bake cookies! So cool. Even better that they are perfectly imperfect. The best food is that which tastes good and is made with lots of love.
Agreed! Anything made with a lot of heart (or hearts!) is a sealed deal in my book <3 happy Tuesday, Laura!
Cute!!!!!!!!!
Thank youuu! <3