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 Sugar Cookie Recipe
Makes: 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Cream together the butter and sugar on low, then medium, then high until the mixture is creamy.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on high until combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula and mix one more time until all ingredients are well combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt, and flour.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer one cup at a time and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixer and mix one more time until the dough is fully formed.
6. Working in thirds, roll out a section of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/4″ thick. Freeze the sheets of dough for 5 minutes before using a cutter to cut out the shapes. Arrange on a parchment paper-lined aluminum baking sheet, leaving space between cookies.
7. Bake for 11-16 minutes or until baked through, and let cool thoroughly to harden before handling.
8. Repeat for all remaining dough sections, including any reserved scraps, which can be re-rolled.

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.