I adore a simple, crunchy, lightly sweet slice and bake butter cookie. They are lovely rolled in colored sugar, chopped nuts or coconut. For a quick Valentine’s Day treat, I rolled my cookie dough log in homemade colored sugar and shaped it into a heart when it was partially chilled. Once it was completely firm, I just sliced it, revealing darling heart cookies with a red sugar edge. Super simple and a gorgeous little gift! Recipe after the jump.
I didn’t have red sanding sugar, so I added red food color to white sugar, mixed well and then spread out to dry. You can make any color sugar this way and it will save you lots of money!
I shaped a 2 inch log of the butter cookie dough into a heart halfway through chilling and then sliced once it was firm.
All lined up and ready to bake. These don’t spread much so you can bake them pretty close together.
Bake just until the bottoms are light golden brown and cool completely.
Heart Shaped Slice and Bake Butter Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- red or pink sanding, sparkling or regular sugar
Cream the butter, sugar and salt together in a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix just until the dough comes together and everything is incorporated. Do not over-mix your dough. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a 2″-2 1/2″ diameter log. Spread your colored sugar out on a cookie sheet or on parchment paper. Roll each cookie dough log in the sugar and press to coat completely. Wrap in plastic wrap or paper and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour before shaping. Take the log out and gently press at an angle with your hands along the length of the log to form a peak (this will be the bottom point of the heart). Use a chopstick or skewer to form the indentation along the opposite end and use your hands to form the top of the heart. You might need to re-coat a few areas with sugar after forming your heart. Wrap up each heart log and chill until completely firm. Preheat oven to 350. Slice 1/4″ thick slices with a sharp knife and bake cookies on a parchment covered cookie sheet until bottoms are a light golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
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