Easy Sprinkle Heart Sugar Cookies Recipe

Instructions

For Cookies:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together cream cheese and butter.
• Mix in sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing after each one and then add the vanilla. Mix well.
• In a large bowl mix dry ingredients, add a little at a time to butter mixture.
• Mix until flour is completely incorporated and dough comes together. If it seems to not be coming together all the way in the bowl, dump it out onto a flat surface and knead until the dough comes together.
• Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness (thicker or thinner depending on your preference)
• Cut out 36 hearts.
• Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 14 minutes.
• Lay cookies on a wire rack to cool.

For Royal Icing:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm water and meringue powder. Mix for 30 seconds.
• Add in cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds.
• Pour in powdered sugar.
• Using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes.
• Icing will get thick and creamy.

Decorate!

• Make sure you have cookies baked, icing made, icing colored, sprinkles ready and piping bags fitted and filled.
• For the icing, you don't want the icing to be too thick but you don\'t want it to be water either. What I do is, I spoon about 2-3 cups of icing into a bowl, tint it the color I want and then add a teaspoon of water at a time, stirring until the icing is the consistency of thick glue.
• I used a #3 tip for these but you would use a smaller tip if you wanted.
• Step 2: Pipe an outline!
• Use your icing and slowly pipe an outline, following the shape of the heart all the way around the cookie. Piping outlines may take a little practice but I find that if I lift my piping bag up and bit and let a line of icing drape down it is easier that having my piping tip right on the cookie.
• Sprinkles
• Step 3: Fill in the cookie:
• Use your icing to filling in the center of the cookie. You can use toothpicks to help spread icing and pop any air bubbles in icing.
• Step 3: Sprinkles!
• It\'s time to add the sprinkles! You want to do this while the icing is still wet so the sprinkles will stick
• I just added sprinkles to the top of this cookie but you could add them to the whole cookie or to a side of the cookie as I did to some of the white heart cookies in the photos up top and below.
• Step 4: Let them dry!
• After you\'ve decorated these cookies, let them dry uncovered 6-8 hours or overnight.
• That way you can stack them or package them up without messing them up.