Homemade slice and bake cookies are now a holiday staple in our home – they taste way better than store-bought and are surprisingly easy to make! Read below to find out how to make our Heart Slice and Bake Cookies for Valentine’s Day (or just because).

Homemade Slice & Bake Cookie Recipe

My daughter loves slice and bake cookies – every time a new movie or holiday version comes out, she gets so pumped and begs for me to let her buy a package.

I do usually give in, but the initial excitement quickly turns into something resembling buyer’s remorse once we remove them from the oven because those cookies always taste awful.

Last Halloween, I thought I’d try making our own slice and bake cookies with homemade cookie dough – and there’s been no looking back! This basic cookie dough is super easy to customize with flavoring, color, and your choice of shapes so you can make your own tasty, slice and bake cookies whenever the occasion calls for something fun.

How to Make Slice and Bake Cookies with Kids

Kids can either help with making and forming the dough, or you can have this ready to go for them so they can simply slice and bake. It would also be great for a holiday play date when the kids may want to “bake” but you don’t want a giant kitchen mess to clean up.

Can this cookie dough be frozen?

The unbaked dough or the baked cookies can be frozen for up to a month. Some people may say that the cookie dough can be frozen for up to three months, but you will see a quality loss around the 2 month mark.

Ingredients for Sugar Cookies

• Unsalted butter, room temperature
• White Sugar
• Large Egg, room temperature
• Vanilla Extract 
• All-purpose Flour, plus more for rolling
• Baking Powder
• Salt

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: I also like adding different extracts, like almond extract or butter flavor to switch up the taste of these sugar cookies.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Mixing bowl
• Electric mixer <– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
• Cutting board
• Rolling pin
• Sharp kitchen knife
• Parchment Paper
• Cookie Sheets
• Cooling racks <– I have and love these tiered cooling racks, they save so much counter space and are also oven-safe

How to Make Slice and Bake Cookies

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat to incorporate, about 2 minutes.

In a small separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar-butter mixture, combine, and then add the remaining half.

Knead the cookie dough a couple of times, and then gather into two large balls.

Place a large rectangle of parchment or wax paper on your counter.

Place half of the dough in the center of the parchment paper, and then roll into a log, using the paper to cover completely.

Press one side of the dough log down on the counter, and then repeat with the opposite side to form a point – the bottom of your heart.

Use a chopstick or dowel to form an indent at the top of the heart.

Place the dough in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350ºF

Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Unwrap the cookie dough and use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 1/2″ slices.

Place the sliced heart cookies on the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown at the edges.

Let cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to a cooling rack.

Decorate as desired.

Pin this Heart Slice and Bake Cookie recipe:

Grab your free printable for our homemade slice and bake cookie recipe:

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Yield: 32 cookies

Homemade Slice & Bake Heart Cookies

Print

Homemade Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies - you can customize this recipe to any shape you desire! We've made heart sugar cookies, pumpkin sugar cookies and even rainbows

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat to incorporate, about 2 minutes.
3. In a small separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar-butter mixture, combine, and then add the remaining half.
4. Knead the cookie dough a couple of times, and then gather into two large balls.
5. Place a large rectangle of parchment or wax paper on your counter.
6. Place half of the dough in the center of the parchment paper, and then roll into a log, using the paper to cover completely.
7. Press one side of the dough log down on the counter, and then repeat with the opposite side to form a point - the bottom of your heart.
8. Use a chopstick or dowel to form an indent at the top of the heart.
9. Place the dough in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
10. Preheat oven to 350ºF
11. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
12. Unwrap the cookie dough and use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 1/2" slices.
13. Place the sliced heart cookies on the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown at the edges.   
14. Let cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to a cooling rack.
15. Decorate as desired.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  French Rolling Pin (17 Inches) –WoodenRoll Pin for Fondant, Pie Crust, Cookie, Pastry, Dough –Tapered Design & Smooth Construction - Essential Kitchen Utensil
• 
  Reynolds Kitchens Non-Stick Parchment Paper - Amazon Exclusive 12 inch - 60 Square Feet
• 
  Wilton Excelle Elite 3-Tier Cooling Rack for Cookies, Cakes and More

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

32

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 66Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 44mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 0gSugar: 5gProtein: 0g

Sugar, Spice and Glitter uses an auto-generate nutrition calculator. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate unless analyzed in a scientific lab, so these should be considered more of a guideline than medical information.

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These slice and bake heart cookies are perfect for Valentine’s Day or anytime that hearts would be appropriate (when are they not?) Swap out the color, flavoring and shape whenever you want something a bit different.

For more fun Valentine’s Day recipes, check out our Strawberry Heart Macarons or our Heart-shaped Beignets.