Treat your sweetie to a Valentine’s Day dessert that’s sugar, spice, and everything nice. These homemade Red Hot heart cookies pack cinnamon-flavored heat, and a helping hand from the kiddos in the kitchen will make them taste even sweeter.
What you need:
- ¾ c. unsalted butter, softened
- 1 c. white sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 ½ c. all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ c. Red Hot candies
- Frosting
- Electric mixer
- Wax paper
- Rolling Pin
- Heart cookie cutter
- Cookie baking sheet
- Food processor
- Spatula
- Optional: decorating tip + piping bag
Step No. 1: In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Roll out one handful of dough at a time in between two sheets of wax paper, and place the sheets in the refrigerator or freezer to chill for at least one hour.
Step No. 2: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Using the heart cookie cutter, cut out shapes from the chilled dough. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Add a few Red Hot candies to each cookie by gently pressing the candies into the dough.
Tip: Combine the remaining dough scraps together and re-roll in between the wax paper sheets before cutting out the additional heart shapes.
Step No. 3: Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven, until the edges are slightly golden brown. Cool completely.
Step No. 4: While your cookies are cooling, it’s time to add some spice to your frosting. First, add the remaining Red Hot candies to a food processor, and process until the candies become a fine sugar-like dust.
Add in a few spoonfuls of the processed candies to your bowl of frosting. (The more you add, the spicier the frosting will be, so add accordingly.)
Step No. 5: Once the cookies have cooled, frost cookies with the spiced buttercream and add any additional candy or decoration you’d like to the top of each cookie.
Tip: For a more formal cookie, use a decorating tip and a plastic piping bag to frost the cookie.