Valentine’s Day is almost here. What comes to mind when you think of February 14th? For me, the answer is easy, treats. Generally, I might think of something of the chocolate variety but anything sweet and pretty is welcomed and greatly appreciated, especially if it’s something I didn’t have to make. I mean it really is just the perfect excuse for a day devoted solely to showing those you love just how much you love them and what better way than with a wow-tastic dessert or a special meal? Flowers are great and all, don’t get me wrong, but food is love after all, isn’t it?
This year, I have something special up my sleeve I plan to make for my valentines that I hope to share with you soon, but in the meantime, I want to show you these super easy, beautiful Marbled Valentine Heart Cookies I made ahead of time and froze for my son to take to school with his cards on Thursday. I used the same shortbread dough I previously shared in this post.
The only difference here is, I made two batches, one which I left plain, and a second which I tinted pink with gel food coloring. After gently combining little golf ball-sized bits of the different colored dough, you’re left with a really pretty two-toned, marbled cookie. Now, one might ask if they could just make one batch of dough, then color half of it at the end, and that would probably work just fine. Though, for this particular cookie which wasn’t getting a filling or anything sprinkled on top, I really wanted the light and delicate texture of the shortbread to shine. And I didn’t want to muck that up by developing too much gluten into the dough by overworking it once the flour was already combined. Also, I needed enough to also share at a luncheon and a double batch of this shortbread isn’t the best fit for my mixer, so two separate batches combined by hand at the end was the way to go here.
I think the possibilities are endless to personalize these by the way. You can switch up the colors and shapes to make this cookie fit for just about any occasion. Give it a try, even if not for Valentine’s Day, and I’m sure you’ll wow your friends and family.
Marbled Valentine Heart Cookies
Ingredients
For the Plain Shortbread
- 8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
- 100 g confectioner’s sugar
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 330 g all-purpose flour
For the Pink Shortbread
- 8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
- 100 grams confectioner’s sugar
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 330 g all-purpose flour
- pink gel food coloring ( I used Wilton Pink)
Instructions
For the Plain Shortbread
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the room temperature butter, powdered sugar, and salt. Using the paddle attachment start to cream on low for 2 minutes, then gradually increase the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy.
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Add the egg yolk and beat for another few seconds until the yolk has disappeared.
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Add the flour, working in two batches, and mix on low very carefully until everything is combined.
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Finish the dough by hand with a spatula so as to not over work the dough. It should still be a bit crumbly. Pour the dough into a bowl and set aside.
For the Pink Shortbread
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Now repeat the above steps to make the pink shortbread. Once the butter and sugar is creamed, add a few drops of the gel food coloring until the desired shade is reached. (Remember it will lighten a bit after you add the flour.)
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Continue with the egg yolk and flour and mix until combined and the color is mostly uniform. Set aside along with the first batch of dough.
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Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap. Using a small ice cream scoop or a spoon, scoop golf-ball sized pieces of dough gently smushing together in your hands to form a little clump and place closely together onto the plastic wrap, alternating pink/white/pink/white. (I did about 4 or 5 rows of 6 creating a rectangle.)
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Once complete gently knead the dough together a few times, with just a couple turns, to create the marbling effect. Using the plastic wrap to lift/manuever the dough is helpful. Don’t worry about creating the perfect look as this will happen when rolling the dough out.
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Once combined into sort of a disc, wrap the dough tightly with the plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at least an hour or freeze up to a couple months. (Double wrap the dough if freezing.)
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When you’re ready to roll and cut the cookies, remove the dough from the fridge or freezer. If frozen, place in the refrigerator overnight, then let soften a bit on the counter.
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When the dough isn’t rock solid, roll half the disc out between two pieces of parchment paper and cut the cookies out using your heart cutter or shape of choice. (The dough can be re-rolled 2 times till there’s hardly any left.)
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Repeat with the other half of the disc. Place the marbled, cut out pieces of dough& on parchment paper in the refrigerator to chill for a few minutes before baking.
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Be sure to check the bottom of the cookies as sometimes the marbling effect looks best on one side as opposed to the other.
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When ready to bake, bake in a preheated 350F/ 180C degree oven for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are just starting to turn golden. (Larger cookies may need a few minutes more to bake.) Let cool on the cookie sheet, then move to a cooling rack & enjoy.
Recipe Notes
*Alternately, once the disc of dough has chilled, you can roll the marbled dough, cut into the desired shapes, chill, then place on parchment paper into freezer zip-loc bags. Then just pull them out and place onto parchment lined sheet pans when ready to bake. They should only need to sit out on the pans a few minutes before baking to take the chill off a bit.
Updated on April 10th to include Easter egg cookies….
For Easter egg cookies:
- You can make two different batches of dough as above and either color one batch one color and the other batch, two colors. Or only do a two-color easter egg.
- Alternatively, you can make one batch of dough (1 recipe) and divide the dough into three pieces and color each piece a different color (as I did for the below Easter eggs. Gently knead a drop or two of food coloring into each piece of dough
Then proceed with the rest of the recipe above starting with Step 4. And marble the colors as you wish. Have fun. The idea is to get creative and make your own edible little works of art.
*You can use sprinkles as well or make a quick glaze with about 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and stir in a teaspoon of milk or water at a time until you have a drizzle-able consistency. (we added a tiny drop of yellow gel color to ours.)
