Say it with cookies! Our Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies look just like the iconic candies – and the combination of vanilla-scented sugar cookie and sweet icing tastes incredible, too.
💘The Cutest Conversation Heart Valentine’s Day Cookies
Forget those chalky candy conversation hearts! Our Conversation Heart Sugar Cookie recipe shows you how to make delicious sugar cookies decorated as adorable edible conversation heart candies – perfect for Valentine’s Day gifting or parties.
These decorated Valentine cookies are classic sugar cookies, in the best way possible. They start with a simple roll-out sugar cookie, lightly flavored with vanilla (or another flavoring that tickles your fancy), and are baked until golden around the edges but still soft in the middle. Once topped with colorful royal icing, they make the perfect blank slate for decorating with cute, flirty, and fun sayings.
If you are new to royal icing or decorating sugar cookies, this is a great recipe to start with. Our photo guide will take you through every part of the process, with lots of detailed instructions and step-by-step photos down below.
💗More Valentine’s Sugar Cookies
If you want to know the secret to my heart, give me all the cookies. Especially heart-shaped cookies like these Pistachio Shortbread Cookies, Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies, Watercolor Rose Sugar Cookies, and Brown Butter Heart Cookies!
But, if hearts aren’t your thing, give these Red Hot Love Cookies or Raspberry Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies a chance.
(If you prefer a soft baked sugar cookie or royal icing isn’t your thing, try my Big Soft Sugar Cookies. They are topped with buttercream and easily decorated with sprinkles.😉)
Table of Contents
🧾 What You’ll Need
Ingredients
Here are a few ingredient tips to help you get started making these cute cookies. Full ingredient amounts can be found in the recipe card below. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)
FOR THE SUGAR COOKIES
- Flour: To prevent dry, dense cookies, make sure to measure your flour correctly. Use a food scale if you have one, or use the spoon and level method.
- Baking powder
- Granulated Sugar
- Unsalted butter and salt: I like to use unsalted butter and control the amount of added salt. If you only have salted butter, feel free to use it, and leave out the additional salt. Using room temperature butter will help it blend with the other ingredients better and prevent lumps.
- Eggs: Make sure to use large, room temperature eggs (not medium or extra large).
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla is the classic sugar cookie flavor, and Nielsen-Massey Bourbon vanilla extract is my favorite. However, feel free to use whatever vanilla extract you have on hand at home. You can also experiment and add other extracts in addition to or instead of vanilla. Try lemon or almond!
- Sour cream: Adding sour cream to the cookies makes them extra-soft and tender, and I love the very subtle tang it gives to them. Make sure your sour cream is at room temperature so everything blends together nicely.
FOR THE ROYAL ICING
- Meringue powder: This meringue powder by Wilton is great for making royal icing. It stays fresh for a long time, so it’s good to keep as a pantry staple.
- Water
- Powdered sugar: If your powdered sugar has hard lumps, be sure you sift it before using it in the icing.
- Light corn syrup: Just a touch of light corn syrup helps with the texture and glossiness of the royal icing. You can omit it if desired.
- Flavoring: The recipe calls for almond extract to flavor the icing, but you can substitute other flavors like lemon or clear vanilla extract according to preference.
- Gel food coloring: Depending on how you plan to decorate your cookies, you’ll need an assortment of gel food coloring. I use Americolor brand.
Equipment
Using the right tools can make or break your cookie baking experience. These recommendations will point you in the right direction. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter: You’ll need a 4-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter.
- Piping tips: You’ll need a #2 round piping tip for flooding the cookies with royal icing.
- Piping bags and couplers: I like these disposable piping bags (I wash them and re-use them to reduce waste!), and you’ll need some piping couplers.
- Stand mixer: I highly recommend using a stand mixer to make the cookie dough and icing.
- Rolling pin: You’ll be rolling out the cookies so you’ll need a good rolling pin. And, I recommend rolling the dough between sheets of parchment paper. It helps the dough not to stick to the surface or the rolling pin. Plus it makes clean up easier.
- Plastic wrap: The icing dries out quickly. Make sure to have plastic wrap on hand to place on top of the icing. It will make all the difference in preventing dried out icing.
- Scriber tool (or toothpick): There are a lot of different ways to work with royal icing, and every baker has her favorite method. Regardless of the exact method, you’ll first outline and then fill in the center of the cookie. Real cookie artists use something called a scriber tool to push royal icing around and fill in any gaps. Many home bakers use a toothpick because it’s what they already have in their kitchen.
- Food coloring marker: A red edible marker is used to write the messages on top of the cookies. You could also use red royal icing if you don’t want to use markers.
Ready to Make These?
- Get the recipe below 👇👇
- Scroll below the recipe for step-by-step photos
- Read important FAQs and more
❤️ More Valentine’s Day Desserts
Leave a Review!
If you make this recipe, let us know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe below, and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram @elabau, or use #sugarhero on IG!
Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
FOR THE SUGAR COOKIES
- 19 oz all-purpose flour, (4 ¼ cups)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 12.25 oz granulated sugar, (1 ¾ cups)
- 8 oz unsalted butter, (1 cup) at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, can substitute lemon or almond extract
- 1 oz sour cream, (2 TBSP) at room temperature
FOR THE ROYAL ICING
- 1.8 oz meringue powder, (6 TBSP)
- 3/4 cup water, (6 fl oz)
- 24 oz powdered sugar, (6 cups)
- 2 tsp light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp almond extract, can substitute lemon or clear vanilla extract
- Assorted gel food coloring, I use Americolor brand.
TOOLS
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter, 4 inches wide
- #2 piping tip, round
- Piping bags
- Pastry bag couplers
- Food coloring marker
Instructions
TO MAKE THE SUGAR COOKIES:
- Combine dry ingredients: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder, and set aside for now.
- Cream butter and sugar: In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar, and mix everything together on medium speed until fluffy and well-mixed, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add eggs and wet ingredients: Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract and sour cream.
- Add dry ingredients: With the mixer running on low, add the dry ingredients gradually, and mix until they’re just about incorporated. Stop the mixer when only a few streaks of flour remain. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula, and finish mixing all the dough by hand.
- Chill the dough: Divide the dough in half and press each into a thin disc, wrapping well with plastic wrap. If you want to use a kitchen scale, your dough portions should be about 22 oz each. Refrigerate until firmer but not hard, about 30 minutes. (If you refrigerate it longer, it will probably need to sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes after refrigeration so it’s not rock-hard when you’re trying to roll it out.)
- Roll out the dough: When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. Place a disc of dough between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper, and roll out until it is 1/4-inch thick.
- Cut out the cookies: Use a 4-inch heart cookie cutter to cut out your cookies and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Combine the scraps and re-roll the dough to cut more cookies. You should get about 14 large heart cookies. If at any time the dough becomes too soft and sticky to easily work with, refrigerate it briefly until it firms up again.
- Chill the cookies (optional): Put the sheets of cut-out cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking to help the cookies hold their shape. This is optional, but helpful if your cookies are a more intricate shape.
- Bake and cool: Bake the trays of cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to take on color and they have lost the raw shine in the middle. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove them to wire racks to cool completely before decorating them.
TO MAKE THE ROYAL ICING:
- Mix meringue powder with water: Combine the meringue powder and water in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix them together on medium speed until foamy.
- Add powdered sugar: Stop the mixer and sift powdered sugar over the bowl. Beat on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the corn syrup and flavoring.
- Mix until thick: Turn the mixer speed back to medium-high and mix for 5 minutes, until the royal icing is shiny, stiff, bright white, and voluminous. Do not mix on the highest speed, and do not mix for more than 5 minutes, or you may incorporate too many air bubbles and change the texture of your royal icing.
- Thin the icing: Right out of the mixer, this icing is too thick for smooth flooding, so you'll want to thin it a bit. The ideal consistency is when you lift up a spoonful of icing and let it drip back into the bowl, it takes about 15 seconds for the trail of icing to fully disappear. Start by adding a tablespoon of water to the mixing bowl, and stir until it's incorporated. Continue to add water a bit at a time, testing regularly, until you achieve the right consistency.
- Divide and color the icing: Decide how many icing colors you want, and divide the icing into that many bowls. Add a few drops of gel food coloring to each bowl of icing and stir by hand until the color is evenly distributed. Tip: Royal icing tends to darken a bit as it dries, so if you want pretty pastel colors, don’t add too much coloring. (You can also leave the icing white if you don't want to color it.)
- Fill piping bags: Place each color in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I recommend a #2 tip).
TO DECORATE THE COOKIES:
- Flood cookie tops with royal icing: Pipe a thin outline of icing around the edge of a cookie. Fill in (flood) the outlined cookies with royal icing. If you miss any spots, use the tip of the piping bag to nudge the icing into place, or use a toothpick or scriber tool to smooth out any rough lines. Continue until all of the cookies have been iced.
- Dry and decorate: Allow the cookies to dry at room temperature for at least 2 hours to set the icing. Once set, use a red edible marker to write cute sayings on them, just like real conversation hearts! Decorated cookies can be enjoyed the same day they are made.
- Storage and make-ahead information: If you plan to package or stack the cookies one on top of each other, you will need to let the cookies sit in a single layer, at room temperature, for at least 12 hours to be sure the royal icing dries fully and is hard.Once set, the cookies can be stacked and stored in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper or parchment. Store the cookies at room temperature for up to two weeks – do not refrigerate them, as the humidity can cause the icing to soften and dissolve.
- Freezer instructions: Decorated cookies can also be frozen for up to 6 months. For the best results, I recommend packaging the cookies individually and then placing them in a plastic container in the freezer. Let them defrost at room temperature while still in the plastic container – this can help cut down on colors bleeding or other moisture issues.
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
Nutrition
📸 Photo Tutorial: How to Make Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies
I believe step-by-step directions are a MUST when trying out a new recipe! Here’s an overview with lots of pictures of how to make and decorate these cookies. Full, printable instructions are also included in the recipe card above.
TO MAKE THE SUGAR COOKIES
- Combine dry ingredients: In a bowl, whisk together the 19 oz (4 1/4 cups) flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking powder, and set aside for now.
- Cream the butter and sugar: In the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 8 oz (1 cup) softened butter and 12.25 oz (1 3/4 cups) sugar, and mix everything together on medium speed until fluffy and well-mixed, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time: Add 2 large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add vanilla and sour cream: Then add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1oz (2 TBSP) sour cream.
- Mix in dry ingredients: With the mixer running on low, add the dry ingredients gradually, and mix until they’re just about incorporated. Stop the mixer when only a few streaks of flour remain. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula, and finish mixing all the dough by hand.
- Divide dough and refrigerate: Divide the dough in half and press each into a thin disc, wrapping well with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firmer but not hard, about 30 minutes.
- Prepare to bake: When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Roll out dough: Place a disc of dough between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper, and roll out until it is 1/4-inch thick.
- Cut dough: Use a 4-inch heart cookie cutter to cut out your cookies and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Combine the scraps and re-roll the dough to cut more cookies. You should get about ## extra large heart cookies.
- Freeze for 10 minutes: Put the sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking to help the cookies hold their shape.
- Bake: Bake the trays of cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to take on color and they have lost the raw shine in the middle.
- Cool: Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove them to wire racks to cool completely before decorating them.
TO MAKE THE ROYAL ICING
- Mix meringue powder and water: Combine 1.8 oz (6 TBSP) meringue powder and 6 floz (3/4 cup) water in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix them together on medium speed until foamy.
- Sift in powdered sugar, then add corn syrup and flavoring: Stop the mixer and sift 24 oz (6 cups) powdered sugar over the bowl. Beat on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add 2 tsp corn syrup and 1/2 tsp flavoring.
- Mix until stiff: Turn the mixer speed back to medium-high and mix for 5 minutes, until the royal icing is shiny, stiff, bright white, and voluminous. Do not mix on the highest speed, and do not mix for more than 5 minutes.
- Thin the icing: Right out of the mixer, this icing is too thick for smooth flooding, so you’ll want to thin it a bit. Start by adding a tablespoon of water to the mixing bowl, and stir until it’s incorporated. Continue to add water a bit at a time, testing regularly, until you achieve the right consistency. You’ll know you have it when you drizzle a spoonful of icing over the bowl and it takes about 15 seconds for the trail of icing to fully disappear.
- Divide and color the icing: Decide how many icing colors you want, and divide the icing into that many bowls. Add a few drops of gel food coloring to each bowl of icing and stir by hand until the color is evenly distributed.
- Fit and fill piping bags: Place each color in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I recommend a #2 tip).
TO DECORATE THE COOKIES
- Outline the cookies: Draw a thin outline of royal icing around the outside of the cookies.
- Flood cookie centers: Next, fill (aka “flood”) the center of the outlined cookies with royal icing. If you miss any spots, use the tip of the piping bag to nudge the icing into place, or use a scriber tool/toothpick to smooth out any rough lines.
- Dry and decorate: Allow the cookies to dry at room temperature for at least 2 hours to set the icing. Once set, use a red edible marker to write cute sayings on them, just like real conversation hearts! (Alternately, you could use red royal icing in a piping bag with a #1 tip instead.)
- Set completely: Decorated cookies can be enjoyed as soon as they are finished. However, if you plan to package or stack the cookies one on top of another, you will need to let the cookies sit in a single layer for at least 12 hours at room temperature to be sure the royal icing is completely hard and dry.
🍪 Storing Royal Icing Sugar Cookies
You can enjoy the cookies the same day they’re made as long as the royal icing set for at least 2 hours before topping them with a clever saying.
How long does royal icing take to harden?
It takes a minimum of 12 hours for royal icing to fully harden. So, if you plan to stack or package your cookies, you’ll need to let them dry completely, to prevent damaging or smearing the icing.
Let the cookies sit in a single layer, at room temperature, for at least 12 hours to be sure the royal icing is fully dry. If you are in a humid climate, you may need to give them up to 24 hours to fully harden. I find having an oscillating fan pointing at the cookies can speed up the drying process and help them dry more evenly.
Storing Sugar Cookies at Room Temperature
Once set, the cookies can be stacked and stored in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper or parchment. Store the cookies at room temperature for up to two weeks – do not refrigerate them, as the humidity can cause the icing to soften and dissolve.
Freezing Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Decorated and fully set cookies can also be frozen for up to 6 months. The defrosting process can make the icing bleed or become sticky, so for the best results, I recommend packaging the cookies individually (for instance, in sealed plastic bags) and then placing them in a plastic container in the freezer.
Let them defrost at room temperature while still in the plastic container – this can help cut down on colors bleeding or other moisture issues. You may still see some changes in the icing, so if you are planning on freezing cookies for an important event, do a test run first to see how they hold up for you.
💭 FAQs
Here are some of the most common questions about how to make Conversation Heart Cookies.
The most common reason royal icing develops bubbles and bumps is because of over-mixing. Be careful not to mix on the highest speed, and do not mix for more than 5 minutes. Doing either of these things will incorporate too many air bubbles into the icing and make it difficult to create a smooth look.
Royal icing hardens very quickly. Any time you aren’t using it, press a piece of cling wrap on top right away so that it doesn’t form a crust. Plastic wrap will be your lifesaver!
It really depends on what you are trying to create with the icing. The frosting consistency right out of the mixer is fairly stiff, but you’ll want a thinner consistency for creating a solid colored backdrop for your conversation hearts. You can thin the frosting out by adding a small spoonful of water at a time, and stirring slowly until it’s incorporated. You’ll know the consistency is right when you lift up a spoonful of icing, let it drip back into the bowl, and it takes about 15 seconds for the trail of icing to fully disappear in the bowl.
💡 Tips For Cookie Baking Success
- Don’t over-mix the butter and sugar – mixing too much will beat too much air into the dough, and cause your cookies to spread.
- Measure with precision. Either use a kitchen scale (the best!), or be attentive when using measuring cups and spoons, especially when it comes to flour. Measure your flour by spooning flour into your measuring cup, then use the back of a knife to level off the top of the cup.
- Roll your dough between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper, and roll out until it is 1/4-inch thick. The thickness of the dough really makes a big difference in how crispy or soft the cookies turn out after being baked. I like rolling between parchment paper because it reduces the need for added flour during the rolling process, which can make cookies dry and tough.
- Freeze cut-out cookies for about 10 minutes before baking to help them hold their shape.
- Use light-colored, heavy baking sheets that are not insulated. Dark or thin cookie sheets can cause the cookies to burn on the bottom before they’re cooked all the way through, and insulated cookie sheets can cause your cookies to spread too much.
- Test bake 1 or 2 cookies on a baking sheet before baking a full batch. Ovens and baking sheets can produce drastically different results, and your baking time might vary from what the recipe says. Doing a test bake to figure out your personal timing will ensure all of your cookies turn out well!
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