These Valentine’s Day cookies are super cute, easy to make, and so tasty! The flavor of the chocolate with the light pop of salt from the crunchy shortbread, and topped with super cute Valentine decorations make these a perfect gift for Valentine’s Day!

I made a video featuring these cookie hearts as well as two more awesome Valentine’s Day treats! Check it out here:

Disclosure: There are Amazon affiliate links provided in the post below. If you click on any of the Amazon links and make a purchase, I do get a small percentage of the sale which helps me pay for my ingredients and my website. I genuinely use anything that I link, and I want to make it easy for you to find these ingredients and kitchen tools, too, if you want to utilize them!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3-4 cups chocolate (melting wafers, candy melts, or tempered chocolate)
• Wilton candy melts (red, pink, purple, and/or white)
• Valentine’s Day sprinkles

Here is a link for Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers:

Here is a link for Wilton Valentine Sugar Sprinkle Set:

Here is a link for Wilton Valentine Sprinkle Assortment:

Equipment:

• Large mixing bowl (x2)
• Sifter/strainer
• Measuring cup
• Small liquid measuring cup
• Hand mixer/stand mixer
• Rubber spatula
• Rolling pin
• Parchment paper
• Heart cookie/fondant cutters
• Fork (x2)
• Large (microwave safe) mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Small (microwave safe) bowl(s)
• Piping bag(s)

Here is a link to Wilton Heart Fondant/Cookie Cutters:

Here is a link to Wilton Piping Bags (100 count box):

Here is a link to Wilton Reusable 16 in. Piping Bag:

Directions:

1. Start by making the cookie dough: Sift the all-purpose flour and the salt into a large mixing bowl. Give it a quick whisk and then set it aside. Next, add the butter and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugar for about 3-5 minutes using either a stand mixer or hand mixer. Next, add the flour and salt mixture to the mixing bowl containing the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until everything is just combined.
2. Now, pour the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, combine it into one ball of dough in the center, place another piece of parchment paper on top, and roll the dough so that it is between 1/8 and ¼ inch thick. Place this on a baking sheet and into the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes to harden.
3. Once the cookie dough is completely chilled, use a heart cookie cutter to cut the cookies.* Combine the extra dough scraps into one ball of dough, re-roll it, chill it, and cut more cookies. Place the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, poke some small holes in the dough with a fork, and bake at 300°F (149°C) for approximately 40-45 minutes.** Once they are done baking, let them cool completely before proceeding to the next step.
4. To a large microwave safe mixing bowl, add about 3 cups of chocolate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in short increments of 15-30 seconds at a time until completely melted.
5. Once the chocolate is ready, place a cookie in the chocolate and make sure that it gets completely covered. Use a combination of either 2 forks or 1 fork and 1 spoon to pick up the cookie and shake off the excess chocolate. Place the cookie back on the parchment paper.
6. Now, it’s time to decorate! See the next 2 sections for some cute decoration ideas.

Decoration Style 1: Feathered

The first decoration style is done before the chocolate sets on the outside of the shortbread. Have 2 piping bags ready with 2 different Valentine colors of melting candy that are already melted and thinned with vegetable oil.*** Immediately after placing the cookie back on the parchment paper, pipe a few straight lines over the chocolate covered cookie using one of the candy melt colors. Then, using the other color, pipe a line in between each of the lines you just piped.

Next, drag a thin kitchen tool, like a cake tester, along the top of the chocolate layer and perpendicular to the colorful lines you just piped. Clean the kitchen tool between each time it is dragged along the top of the chocolate. Then, drag the kitchen tool between the lines you just created with this dragging technique, in the opposite direction. Finally, let it set completely before moving it.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when doing this kind of decoration:

1. Do not drag the tool along the cookie. You want to go along the top of the chocolate layer because of you go too low, there will be crevices in the chocolate rather than a nice smooth surface.
2. Make sure the chocolate and candy melts are nice and hot, if they have already begun to cool, it will result in a clumpy look on the top of the cookie. To decorate these cookies, I had to reheat the chocolate and candy melts between every cookie to ensure a pretty look.
3. An easier way to do the decoration would be to make it out of royal icing, but because royal icing can be really sweet, I decide to try it with the combination of chocolate and candy melts instead.

While this decoration style can be a complete pain in the butt, it so pretty and it does get easier once you get the hang of it!

Decoration Style 2: Candy Melt Drizzle with Sprinkles

The second decoration is a simple drizzle and sprinkle combo. Once the chocolate has completely hardened on the cookies, add some of the melted candy melts to a piping bag and drizzle it over part of the top of the cookies. Drizzle the candy melts over part of the hearts and immediately add some Valentine’s Day sprinkles before the candy melts set.

A variation of this decoration style is to drizzle the candy melts over the entire cookie and then add sprinkles.

Notes:

• *For the cookies pictured in this post, I used a heart cookie cutter that is about 2 ¼ inches in size.
• **I actually like to get a light toast on my shortbread cookie for added flavor, so I bake mine for closer to 50-60 minutes.
• ***There is no precise amount of vegetable oil to add to candy melts; however, a good rule of thumb is for every 1 cup of candy melts, add approximately 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

If you would like even more fantastic Valentine’s Day cookie treat ideas, make sure to check out my Valentine’s Day Oreo^© Cookie Pops and my Valentine Galaxy Cake Cookies!

Thank you so much for checking out this post! Let me know in the comments how you enjoy this recipe! If you post your cookies on social media, make sure to tag me!