These decorated Valentine’s Day cookies resemble conversation heart candies—so fun for the holiday! My recipe for sugar cookies promises flavorful cookies with soft and thick centers, slightly crisp edges, and flat tops for decorating with royal icing. The dough comes together with 7–8 simple ingredients, and the cookies hold their cookie cutter shape in the oven.
Not to toot my own horn, but… I have absolutely *zero talent* when it comes to piping writing on cookies and cakes. Zero zip zilch. LOL. Pen and paper, great! Piping frosting on cupcakes and flooding icing on cookies, totally manageable! But combine writing + piping, and I completely lose control of my hand.
Recently, my talented assistant Stephanie came to my rescue, and helped me write on these conversation heart-inspired cookies. Because we just can’t make Valentine’s Day cookies without the fun little sayings on top!
If you aren’t familiar with conversation heart candies, they are a Valentine’s Day staple here in the U.S. They’re like little edible love notes! Pastel-colored, a little chalky-tasting, and totally iconic, conversation hearts have been around for over a century. Did you know the company that produces them comes up with a new theme each year, and creates new sayings to go along with that theme? The sayings are usually sweet or funny, but can even be sassy or sarcastic!
But you don’t need to buy a bag of conversation hearts to make today’s recipe. You just need a rolling pin, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and a little inspiration for what to write on top (I provide some suggestions below).
These lookalike (but tasteabetter) heart-shaped treats start with my trusty recipe for sugar cookies. The cookies are soft and buttery with crisp edges. The dough holds its shape wonderfully in the oven. Sharp and precise; no misshapen hearts!
We’re using royal icing for today’s Valentine’s Day sugar cookie decoration, but you can absolutely skip the writing and top them with buttercream like we do for these St. Patrick’s Day cookies, or use this easy glaze cookie icing instead.
Notice how I roll out the dough BEFORE chilling it in the refrigerator? That’s my signature sugar cookie trick!
Let me explain why I do this. Just like when you’re making chocolate chip cookies, to prevent the cookies from over-spreading, the cookie dough must chill in the refrigerator. Roll out the dough right after you prepare it, then chill the rolled-out dough. (At this point the dough is too soft to cut into shapes.) Don’t chill the cookie dough and then try to roll it out because it will be too cold and difficult to work with. I divide the dough in half before rolling it out and highly recommend you do the same. Smaller sections of dough are simply more manageable.
Here’s another trick! Roll out the cookie dough directly on silicone baking mats or parchment paper sheets so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. Pick the whole thing up, set it on a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. If you don’t have enough room for 2 baking sheets in your refrigerator, you can stack the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of each other (with parchment or baking mat in between).
This royal icing is my preferred sugar cookie icing because it’s easy to use, dries in a couple hours, and doesn’t have a texture comparable to hardened cement. (It’s actually on the softer side!) I use it for most of my sugar cookie recipes, including watermelon sugar cookies.
I make the royal icing with meringue powder. Meringue powder takes the place of liquid raw egg whites, which is found in traditional royal icing recipes. It eliminates the need for fresh eggs, but still provides the same consistency. You can find meringue powder in some baking aisles, most craft stores with a baking section, or shop for meringue powder online.
The trickiest part is landing on the perfect royal icing consistency..
For even more recommendations, see this full list of my favorite cookie decorating supplies.
I stuck with the shortest possible sayings and words because, well… you know my struggle. Some *short* conversation heart text inspiration:
Have fun with it, and don’t worry about making them look perfect. You can even skip the writing for plain pastel Valentine’s Day cookies. Your Valentine will appreciate your efforts no matter what..
These decorated Valentine's Day heart sugar cookies resemble conversation heart candies—so fun for the holiday! I include the full set of special tools and equipment I use in the Notes below.
