In our family, cookies are a given for every holiday. It’s a tradition that dates back to my Great Grandmother’s Christmas cookie baking marathons, continued by my Grandfather, my mom and now me. And I love that I’ve already ingrained it so well in my kids that they think it should happen for EVERY holiday. So this week, blessed with a 2-hour snow delay one morning, we made these easy Valentine’s Day Cookies.

Pink heart sugar cookies stamped with conversation heart messages in a child's hands

Stamped Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies

When baking with the kids, I try to err on the side of simple. They like instant gratification – they don’t want to wait for sugar cookie dough to chill overnight, and they often get frustrated with icing cookies because they can’t make it look exactly the way they want.

Inspired by the inconic candy hearts, these easy Valentine’s Day cookies were the perfect solution. Fully executed from mixing the dough to ready to eat during our 2-hour snow delay, and decorated with stamps, which even my 4 year old can handle.

Stamped Pink Heart Sugar Cookies Recipe

I opted for this richer sugar cookie recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking over my family’s traditional Whipping Cream Sugar Cookies because I wanted something easier with less prep time, and since we weren’t going to add any icing, I wanted the cookie to stand on it’s own for flavor. Grab a printer-friendly copy of this recipe at the end of this post.

Ingredients

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4-5 drops pink gel food coloring
2 1/3 cups flour

Directions

Combine butter and sugar. Add egg, baking powder, salt, food coloring and vanilla and beat well. Stir in flour until dough is smooth.

Divide dough into two balls, and roll it out between two pieces of wax paper to 1/4″ thickness. Refrigerate until cold, 20-30 minutes. This makes the dough slightly firm and helps it hold the stamp impression better as well.

Place rack in top third of oven, and preheat to 350 degrees. Working with one set of dough at a time, remove dough from refrigerator. Remove wax paper and place on top of a fresh sheet. Cut out cookies with a 3″ heart cookie cutter and transfer to greased cookie sheets. Re-roll dough and cut again until all dough is used.

Make Food-Safe Stamp Pad

You will want to stamp your cookies before you bake them. We used these fun alphabet stamps I found in the Target Dollar Spot a few years ago (I’ve linked similar ones below), and Valentine stamps from a Melissa & Doug set.

Before we used the stamps, I soaked them in a bowl of warm, soapy water and thoroughly rinsed them to remove any ink from previous uses. You can do the same to remove the food coloring from your stamps when you are finished.

To create your food-safe stamp pad, I used half a sheet of paper towel, folded in quarters and taped it with double-sided tape to small paper plate. Then, I applied a healthy amount of red gel food coloring to the paper towel and blotted it so it was evenly spread. Lightly press your stamp into the “inked” paper towel, then gently press the stamp into your cookie.

Easy Valentine’s Day Cookies for Kids

The stamps make for such an easy decorating technique for even the youngest of kids. My 6 year old used real conversation hearts for inspiration, replicating their messages letter by letter, while my preschooler used larger hearts and Valentine stamps.

You can also add sugar sprinkles, and even use this stamping technique over hardened royal icing as well.

What simple Valentine treats does your family like to make? You can find these and more on our Valentine’s Day and Gotta Eat! – Cookies boards on Pinterest. Save this recipe with this pinnable image, or print out a printer-friendly copy below. Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Stamped Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies made by kids in child's hands

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Easy Valentine’s Day Cookies For Kids

Ingredients

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4-5 drops pink gel food coloring

2 1/3 cups flour

Instructions

Combine butter and sugar. Add egg, baking powder, salt, food coloring and vanilla and beat well. Stir in flour until dough is smooth.

Divide dough into two balls, and roll it out between two pieces of wax paper to 1/4" thickness. Refrigerate until cold, 20-30 minutes. This makes the dough slightly firm and helps it hold the stamp impression better as well.

Place rack in top third of oven, and preheat to 350 degrees. Working with one set of dough at a time, remove dough from refrigerator. Remove wax paper and place on top of a fresh sheet. Cut out cookies with a 3" heart cookie cutter and transfer to greased cookie sheets. Re-roll dough and cut again until all dough is used.

Stamp cookies before baking. Create a food-safe stamp pad using a folded paper towel and red gel food coloring. Press stamp in food coloring, then gently press into cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

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