Twisted Heart Sugar Cookies

"Soft and sweet heart-shaped sugar cookies are the perfect way to say I love you! They are super simple and make a great treat for gifting."

These sugar cookies are great for so many occasions. You can make them any color of your choice to match your occcasion. I like to make them for Valentine's Day and sometimes make them for Mother's Day. Hey even Dad's like hearts from the kiddos too!

These are fun to make with kids, gets them involved on making something delicious. You have to try them! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Twisted Heart Sugar Cookies

Servings – 12

Prep Time – 15 Minutes

Cook Time – 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 egg

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• red gel food coloring, or your color of choice

• coarse colored sanding sugar for decorating, optional

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease or place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set aside.

To make cookie dough, cream butter, cream cheese, both sugars, almond extract and egg in a large bowl or stand mixer until fluffy.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir until a soft dough forms.

Seperate dough into two halves. Set aside one. Add 2-3 drops of gel food coloring to the 2nd half of dough. Knead gel coloring into dough until you recieve the desired color you desire. You can make them pink or as red as you prefer.

In two seperate piles, form all dough into 2 tablespoon sized dough balls; keeping colors separated. Taking one ball of a each color; roll each ball into a snake. Lay the white and pink/red dough snake side by side. Twist each snake around each other until they are fully wrapped around one another.

Lift twisted dough over to the prepared cookie sheet, laying the dough into a heart shape pressing the ends together; pinching to connect.

Continue with remaining dough balls until you have made all the hearts.

Sprinkle with coarse colored or clear sanding sugar, optional.

Bake for 12-15 minutes on the prepared cookie sheet; until slightly golden brown. Let cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then remove to a rack to cool.

Notes:

Make Ahead: You can prepare the dough as directed, cover tightly, and store it in the refrigerator  for 1–2 days before baking. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition:

Calories 260 | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 54mg | Potassium: 34mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 33g | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

"My ALL-TIME favorite Sugar Cookie recipe!! Mom made these throughout my childhood. Gave them away as gifts and was always complimented on how delicious they were. I have tweaked the recipe slightly to make it my own, and well... they are equally as good with a slightly different flavor! These homemade sugar cookies are so soft. They can’t be beat!"

CWT is not a certified dietician or nutritionist. Any nutritional information shared on this site is an estimate counted through measurements and package nutritional information used in each recipe. If calorie, macro counting and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend running the ingredients through your choice of nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary depending on national brands used per recipe.