Buttercream Valentine’s Day Cookies

Buttercream Valentine’s Day Cookies

If you are like me, you don’t always want to get out the tedious royal icing recipe to decorate pretty cookies. This buttercream alternative is  EXTRA pretty and so fun to do! Let the piping tips do the work here and decorate your cookie cut-outs with shapes instead of the traditional royal icing designs. Have fun and get creative with it, try different piping tips and colors to create something totally unique and just yours! If you want to create these exact cookies, I’ve noted all the specific details in this post too 😀

The shortbread cookie recipe in this post is my absolute favorite, easy, no fuss cookie recipe of all time! It has 5 simple ingredients and yields a thick, soft, and perfectly shaped cookie. It is perfect for cookie cut-outs and all your cookie decorating projects.

Harmony’s FAVORITE Shortbread Cookie Recipe
Makes: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups Butter, Softened
1 Cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
3 1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 tsp Salt

Instructions

1. In an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the softened butter with the sugar.
2. Reduce speed and add vanilla and salt until incorporated.
3. Add the flour on low speed 1 cup at a time.
4. When the dough is formed, it’s ready to use right away or can be refrigerated in plastic wrap.
5. Roll your dough out to about 1/4 inch thick on a floured cookie sheet (this is a thicker than usual cookie).
6. Cut out your desired cookie shapes with cookie cutters leaving about an inch in between each cookie and pull away the scrap pieces of dough. This technique helps retain perfectly cut shapes directly on your cookie sheets! You can then simply add the scrap dough pieces to your dough ball and continue cutting more.
7. Extra tip: I freeze my cookie cutouts on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before I bake them to further keep them from losing their shape.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F. Check to make sure the edges don’t brown and the centers are cooked through for a perfectly soft cookie.

Buttercream Piping Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. In an electric stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the softened butter for a few minutes on high.
2. Add the vanilla and whip until incorporated.
3. Add 1 Cup of Powdered Sugar and whip on low speed. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix the butter and sugar together. Whip again on low and then high speed before repeating with the 2nd Cup Of Sugar.
4. Divide the buttercream into separate bowls before adding any gel food coloring. I used three shades of pink for these Valentine’s Day Cookies.
5. Add your finished buttercream to individual piping bags fitted with piping tips of your choice and have fun decorating! I used small open star and flower tips.