Decorated garland heart iced sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day.
So, let’s talk about royal icing.
I was completely intimidated to make an Ombré cake. But I did it for Trevor’s birthday last year. And while a process, it was actually pretty easy.
Also. Bucket list forever >>> Homemade marshmallows. Huzzah! Nailed it. And, again, pretty easy!
But, royal icing. Oy. This I struggled with. Major hats off to Glorious Treats who creates the most amazing decorated cookies, and walked me through this process after my third attempt. The pros make everything look so effortless!
But I worked it out. And now I’m sort of addicted. Haley’s having a pedicure party coming up in February and I already bought these to design. (And if they’re ugly, I’ll just lie and chalk it up to a 9-year old’s inability to frost cookies. #kidding #notreally #awesomemom)
I was also too tired to make sugar cookies from scratch again, so I bought the pre-rolled kind. #noregrets
And wow. I’ve done an incredible job of convincing you to make these, haven’t I?
Really, do it! I swear it’s fun. Valentine’s Day is worth a little extra work. For the sake of love, and all.
Iced Heart Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 16 ounce roll Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies (or use your own recipe)
- 1 pound (about 4 cups) powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons meringue powder
- 6 tablespoons warm water
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Cut dough into 12-16 equal slices (depending how small/big you want the cookies.) Roll each slice into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on nonstick cookie sheets.
- Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the powder sugar and meringue powder. Add the water and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high until soft peaks form, adding 1 more tablespoon of water if necessary.
- Transfer about 1/2 a cup of the royal icing to a resealable plastic bag and snip a small corner. Use this icing to pipe a thin border around the edge of each cookie; let set for several minutes.
- Thin the remaining icing with a few drops of water until it’s the consistency of syrup. Place half of the thinned icing in a resealable plastic bag. Tint the remaining half with red gel food coloring and place that in another resealable plastic bag.
- Snip a corner of the white icing bag and pipe a generous amount inside the border of each cookie. Using a small offset spatula (or back of a spoon), spread the icing to cover the cookie. While the icing is still wet, pipe dots of red icing in rows. Drag a toothpick across the dots, alternating directions.
- Royal icing dries pretty fast, but you still want them to completely set at room temperature for at least 1 hour before stacking.
Notes
Nutrition
Other Notes
Some other Royal Icing and Sugar Cookie recipes you might like!
Decorating Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing Tutorials – Glorious Treats
Cookie Dough and Icing recipes – The Decorated Cookie
Troubleshooting – Bake at 350
Just reading this post and looking at your pictures brought back awful memories and made me want to throw my computer. At no fault of yours, by the way. We tried these one year and I couldn’t do it for the life of me. How frustrating! Huge props to you for these beauties, and I can’t wait to see what else you create!
These are so beautiful!
I love Glory!
These cookies look awesome! Great job!
Royal icing gives me panic attacks, but for you…I will try. Plus these are too cute not to!
Beautiful cookies. What a clever decorating idea!
Thanks, Kathy!
I have never tried royal icing because I’ve always bee way too intimidated. But these are so, so, lovely. One of these days….
Amy, these are just gorgeous, I love those hearts
Yay! These turned out beautifully! Hooray for pushing yourself! Thanks for the link love too =)
Super cute! I am the worst at fancy decorating but I may just have to try these!
I need to try royal icing again. These are the prettiest cookies ever, and can I say I’m so glad you put FROSTING on them?? :)
Hahahaha. YES. As it should be! Right?
Any tips on how to get the hearts like that?
Hi Jenny! I held each cookie steady, and with the toothpick, swiped in a straight line, fairly fast, and in one motion. It took 2 or 3 to get the hang of it, but then it was easy :)
These are such beautiful cookies!! I love Valentine’s Day desserts :)
These are too cute!
Girl, look at you bossing that royal icing around! Looks fab, friend!
Such beautiful cookies! I will definitely have to try this decoration method :)
Dude. You made these? You are officially awesome. These are so cute!