the BEST roll-out Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies

These EASY cut out Sugar Cookies work perfectly every. single. time. Whether you are using them for Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas. This is a simple recipe with simple ingredients.

This cut out sugar cookie recipe is so delicious and easy and works EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

It requires only the simplest of ingredients…

the INGREDIENTS

• sugar
• eggs
• white flour
• baking powder
• salt
• vanilla
• butter

the STEPS

STEP #1: Cream the butter and sugar.

Just like most cookie recipes, this step is also paramount in this recipe.

According to the King Arthur bible….In creaming the butter and sugar together, you are using the sugar to aerate the butter and fill it with bubbles that can capture the gasses released by your leavener. The more fine bubbles you have in your network, the lighter in texture your cookies will be and the finer the crumb…it makes your cookies light and crisp instead of hard and dense.

Thank you King Arthur. Creaming butter and sugar. Noted.

Since I don’t own a microwave, after I have softened my butter either over the stove or on the radiator…I always err on the side of the butter being TOO hard.

If it is too hard, whip it on high for a few min longer and the friction will heat up the butter and whip it creamy. This may take 3-4 min.

If its too soft, harden it up by putting it in the fridge or freezer for a second. Nothing says a “not good cookie” like drippy butter. ya know.

So, once your butter is softened but NOT melted, whip in your mixer until it gets. very creamy and whipped!!

STEP #2: Add eggs

Add the eggs and beat after each one.

STEP #3: Add baking powder, salt and vanilla

Don’t mix too much or you will have a tough cookie, just mix until everything is incorporated.

STEP #4: Add the flour

Mix in 1 cup at a time. This ensures you don’t dump all the flour and then realize it is too dry! Sometimes, I don’t use approx. 1/4 cup.

STEP #5: Roll out

I like to roll out the dough in between two sheets of parchment paper to prevent using excess amount of flour which will dry out the dough.

STEP #6: Chill dough

Put the rolled out dough between the parchment paper in the fridge (or freezer) if you are short on time.

Leave it in there until very cold.

STEP #7: Cut out shapes

Remove chilled dough and cut out your desired shapes. Place cut dough back into the fridge while the oven is preheating. Cookies hold their shape best when they are REALLY cold.

STEP #8: Bake @ 375 for 8 min.

You may not think they are done but they are! They will continue to cook on the cookie sheet for the next 6 min.

After 6ish min., remove them from the pan and let them finish cooling on a cookie rack.

STEP #9: the frosting

If you are going for the Royal Icing look…aka the shiny and “flooding” look, then you will need Meringue Powder.

I buy the Meringue powder at either Michael’s or Amazon. The container I purchased was pretty big and lasted me quite a while. Like a year. You can make it from scratch, but its so much easier with the powder from the store. And it makes your cookies look very professional. Its sooo fun! Try it!

I make the frosting while the cookies are cooling.

WARNING: Don't frost them if they are in the least bit hot or the frosting will run off. 

Knowing what colors you are doing is key for preparation. In a summarized version, you will need a slightly thicker frosting for the outline and a slightly thinning frosting for the flooding. Simply add more water to the ones that you need for flooding. More in depth directions on flooding cookies HERE.

Once you have the correct color(s) you want for your cookies, put the different colors in ziploc bags or piping bags. Ziploc works great, if you don’t have piping bags. Just snip off the corner of your ziploc bag and it will work pretty similarly to a piping bag.

*Make sure it is either a snack bag, a quart bag or a gallon ziploc. Fold over sandwich bags DO NOT work because the corners are pleated so when you snip the corner it won’t be a uniform circle. Believe me, I’ve tried and I’ve failed with the fold over sandwich bags. They have failure written all over their little corners.

Okay, back to the frosting of the cookies…once you have filled your bags and snipped off the corners, pipe the outside with the Merengue Frosting so you have a clean line. Then, before the outline dries, quickly pipe in the middle and let it flood into the center of the cookie.

*TIP: Do the piping and the flooding of the SAME cookie at one time. If you go around and pipe all the cookies, and then go back around the flood the cookies, it won’t work because the piping would have dried in that amount of time and it won’t blend with the flooding. Capeesh?

Wow! If that paragraph wasn’t confusing. Once you try it I think you will get what I mean.

STEP #10: the marriage of the frosting and the cookie

This is vital and a very good fact to know. Store them in an airtight container so the frosting and the cookie can incorporate and become soft and chewy!

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• FLOWER BOUQUET: If making a flower bouquet, put the sticks in BEFORE baking them.

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