Because frosting cookies, even for a special occasion like Valentine's Day, sometimes to require more of a time commitment than we are able to make, it is nice to have a simple decorating stick up your sleeve. Or in this case, in your kitchen drawer. All you need to make these heartbreakers is a heart shaped cookie cutter and a knife. After punching out the heart shape, simply use a small, sharp knife to cut a zig zag line into the cookie. Pull the edges slightly apart so the line doesn't seal itself up during baking. You can roll them in sugar, as I did here, or simple leave them plain.
The recipe I used comes from Epicurious, and it's one of the best cutout cookie recipes I've tried.
Cutout Butter Cookies3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Additional sugar, for rolling
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
- Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in egg, sour cream and vanilla until well combined. Beat dry ingredients into butter mixture in two additions. Gather dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Working with one disk at a time, roll dough out 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut to desired shapes. I don't usually use very much flour when I'm rolling these guys, except for a little on the rolling pin. I do flour the cookie cutter, though. Gather scraps together, roll out again. Cut zig-zag lines into hearts with a small knife, if desired. Dip cookies into desired sprinkles when transferring them to parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake until cookies are light golden around the edges, about 12 minutes. If your oven is uneven, rotate sheets halfway through baking.
- Cool completely on racks.
Makes about 5 dozen.
[Photo by Nicole Weston]
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