I`ll confess: my favorite thing about Valentine's Day is all the pink, red, and white hearts. Why? It`s just so cute! I`m not sure if you`ve noticed, but I love cute things...and hearts. :)

Regardless of whether or not I have a Valentine, I squeal a little (read: a lot) inside from all the cuteness I see during this holiday every year at the stores, like Target. Now, don`t even get me started on how Target knows what I want and what I don`t know I ~~need~~ want yet.

So, whether you`re a huge fan of Valentine's Day or not...here`s my obligatory Valentine's themed post! As a food blogger, I couldn`t pass up an opportunity to get all cute and use my super adorable sprinkles! Hehe.

First of all, these cookies are pretty darn simple to make. Which means they`ll be great to make for you. I mean, I`m sure you still need to decide where to eat for that Vday dinner, or what to wear, or even, how to ask that special someone to be your Valentine. With so many things to worry about, I`m sure you don`t want to fuss about making that homemade treat.

I`ll make another confession: I totally do not like making cut-out cookies. Most of the time, when I bake, I just want to bake and eat. I`m not too fond of the chilling-the-dough thing. However, I got over that months ago when I realized how AMAZING chocolate chip cookies become when you let the dough chill for several hours (aka overnight). But, cut-out cookies, there's another step to the chilling. You have to sprinkle flour everywhere, roll out the dough, sprinkle more flour, cut out the shapes, and then finally bake.

One year, I got inspired and made chocolate sugar cookies with royal icing...the works. Boy, it took me hours! Everything turned out super pretty and great, but the coloring for the royal icing and getting the consistency right (for both the outlining and bleeding parts) totally drained me. But, then again, this was when I was totally new to baking...so it could be that too.

These cookies, on the other hand, are pretty and so much easier than making sugar cookies with royal icing. I used two of my smallest heart shaped cookie cutter (about 1 1/2 inches and 2 inches) and they turned out wonderful! They were like little heart shaped coins. The cookies are soft and the icing is easy to whip up.

You can also bake these ahead of time as well. I baked the cookies the day before I iced them. If you store them in a container with a lid, they`ll taste the same for days!

Sprinkle Sugar Cookies (Valentine's Day)

Adapted: Confessions Of A Cookbook Queen | Yields: 18 cookies | Level: Easy | Total Time: 90 min | Print

Ingredients:
Cookies:
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Almond Glaze:
- ¾ cups powdered sugar, shifted
- 2 tablespoons water
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Valentine's themed sprinkles

Directions

Cookies:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a bowl with your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes) on medium speed.

3. Add the egg and vanilla and combine well.

4. Gradually add in the flour mixture.

5. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper, or baking mat.

7. Roll out your dough on a clean and floured surface. (Dust with more flour if dough is too sticky to work with.)*

8. Using a heart shape cookie cutter (dusted with flour), cut out shapes.

9. Place cookies about 1 inch apart and bake cookies for about 6 minutes, rotating pans 180° halfway through.

10. Let cookies cool on a cooling rack completely.

Almond Glaze:

11. In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, water, and almond extract.

12. Add Valentine's Day themed sprinkles, jimmies, nonpareils, etc.

*Notes:

- I divided the chilled dough into two portions and worked with one at a time, while the other half was still in the fridge. This way, I used less flour and the dough wasn't too soft/sticky to roll out and cut.

- Cookies can be made in advance and iced later.

- Cookies will last for days if stored in an airtight container.