In today’s post: Buttery shortbread gets topped with a chocolate heart to make these easy Valentine’s Day cookies! They only take a couple of ingredients and are simply delicious.
Easy Valentine’s Day Cookies
Shortbread is a classic cookie for a reason: it’s buttery and delicious with a light texture that melts in your mouth. It’s made with simple ingredients that combine into cookie heaven. The only thing that can make it even better is, of course, chocolate! Chocolate hearts give a fun Valentine’s Day vibe, and kids love helping unwrap the chocolates and press them into the cookies.
How to make Shortbread Blossoms
Shortbread blossoms are very easy to make and only require a couple ingredients. Prep is quick; you can have the cookies mixed up and baked in about half an hour. But be aware that pressing the chocolate hearts into the top will cause them to melt – so you’ll want to give the cookies a couple of hours to cool completely and for the chocolate to set back up before serving. Here’s how you make them:
Cream the Butter
You’ll start with softened butter – don’t melt it all the way or your cookie texture won’t be quite right for shortbread. Beat the butter together with the sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl for about a minute until it’s light and fluffy.
Finish Mixing
At this point you’ll mix in the flour and salt. I like to mix the flour in one cup at a time. Once you add the second cup of flour the mixture will look quite crumbly – that’s normal! Keeps mixing and the crumbs will start to stick together in larger clumps. Once it’s quite clumpy can stop mixing and use your hand to pull the dough together. Give it a squeeze and it will stick together nicely. For the best shortbread texture you don’t want to overmix.
Scoop and Flatten
Scoop the cookie dough out into approximately 1-1.25 inch balls (which is a rounded tablespoon). I used my standard size cookie scoop (1.5 tablespoons) and underfilled it slightly, then rolled each scoop into a ball. Place the balls on a lined cookie sheet and flatten them just a bit, until they are about 1.5 inches in diameter.
Bake + Add Chocolate
Bake the cookies for approximately 14 minutes at 350 degrees F. Shortbread is one cookie that you do not want to underbake, so touch the sides of the cookies before removing them from the oven – they should feel set and firm, not squishy. They will not change in color however.
Remove them from the cookie sheet onto a paper towel on the counter, and then press a chocolate heart into the center of each cookie. The cookies may crack a bit as you press down the heart; that’s normal. Allow them to cool completely (approximately two hours) before serving.
Valentine’s Shortbread Blossoms
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Butter softened
- 2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cups Flour
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
- 24 Chocolate Hearts
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place softened butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, at least one minute.
- Add the salt and one cup of flour and mix until combined. Add the other cup of flour (and food coloring if desired) and mix until dough just comes together – it will be a bit crumbly at first but it will come together. Once it starts holding together, stop mixing and use your hands to gently squeeze the dough until it comes into a ball.
- Scoop out dough and roll into 1 inch balls. That's just over a tablespoon of dough per ball – I use my standard size cookie dough scoop and underfill it slightly. Place balls on lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until edge of cookie feels set. Remove cookies from the tray and place on paper towels on the counter. Immediately place a chocolate heart in the center of each cookie, pressing down until cookie cracks around the edges.
- Cool completely before serving (about 2 hours).
Dottie says
Scrummy in our tummy s Autumn