cookie recipes

Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies

Posted February 10, 2016 by Stephanie
conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

It’s been so long since I’ve experienced Valentine’s day in elementary school – do they still give out Valentines? I used to have so much fun making Valentines in school. I was pretty into the arts and crafts hour. Do you remember making those little mailboxes for people to put Valentines into? Everyone had to bring an old tissue box from home and we’d go wild with construction paper, doilies, and glitter.

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

One year I remember making making candy apples for the school Valentine’s bake sale. Now that I think about it, kids and hot candy syrup probably wasn’t the safest idea out there, but it sure was fun! It’s so funny how Valentine’s Day when you’re a kid is all about candy and friendship and now that we’re older, it’s supposed to be all sexy and romantic.

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

I don’t actually really buy into the whole Valentine’s day thing with gifts and over the top gestures. If Mike and I didn’t end up celebrating, I wouldn’t be too sad. I do love all the pink and red things that pop up though, because I’m a sucker for anything holiday themed. Thus, my love for conversation hearts. Yes, they’re super cheesy and most of the time the little sayings don’t make sense, but I think they’re so cute.

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

I had such a blast coming up with what to write on these guys. To be honest, I’m so out of the loop on slang these days. Mike and I had a whole conversation with a friend about “cereal.” He was playing darts on the weekend and a bunch of kids kept saying that it was getting cereal, which he didn’t quite get. Now, that one I have heard of, so maybe I’m not so bad?

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

I ended up doing a bunch of random things that were cute to just me, so if you don’t entirely get them, it’s not because you’re old, it’s because I am! I’m totally partial to “unicorn things,” “i loaf you” and “let’s brie together.” How about you?

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

PS – Shout out to my squad, Alana, Molly, and Lily for helping an old lady come up with some fun sayings!

Basic Sugar Cookies via Martha Stewart
makes about 32 cookies

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. With an mixer, or by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until combined. Divide dough in half and pat to flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, at least 20 minutes. Alternatively, place in the fridge overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Remove one dough disk and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly dusted work surface, or between two sheets of floured parchment. Lightly dust with flour as needed. Cut out hearts with a cookie cutter. Using a spatula, transfer to prepared baking sheets and chill for 10 minutes. Re-roll scraps, cut shapes and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until slightly golden, 10 to 18 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Royal Icing Recipe via Sweet Sugarbelle
makes about 2.5 cups

  • 1 pound (453 g) confectioner’s sugar
  • 2.5 tablespoons (26.5 g) meringue powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 4-6 tablespoons warm water

Gently mix together the sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of  an electric mixer. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the 4 tablespoons of water + vanilla. The icing will start out thick and lumpy. Continue to add the remaining water (you may not need all of it) until the icing resembles thick honey. Turn the mixer up a bit and whip until thick and fluffy. Stop mixing when the icing can form a soft peak.

Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies
makes 32 cookies

I like to use tipless piping bags because you don’t need tips and couplers. I also outline and flood (fill in the icing) with the same icing consistency. You want your icing to be stiff enough to hold a piped line, but loose enough so that it will flow when you flood.

Separate the icing out into equal amounts in several bowls (the number of colors you want, plus one for white). Use a toothpick to pick up some gel color and stir into an icing bowl. I made 8 different shades of blues and greens (I ended up only using 7) by adding different amounts of gel coloring. A little goes a long way so start out light and move on from there.

After your icing is colored, make sure it’s the right consistency for piping and flooding. This is a particularly helpful post on getting the consistency right. This is helpful too! When the consistency is right, spoon the icing into your piping bags and close them off. I just tie them off but I’ve seen some people use rubber bands.

When you’re ready to pipe, cut a tiny corner off of the tipless piping bag. Outline the heart and then fill it in. Let dry for 1 hour, minimum. Pipe on conversation heart saying of choice. Let dry overnight.

conversation heart cookie how to - www.iamafoodblog.com

46 Comments

  1. i love the “let’s brie together” one (: i’d probably make an “i lava you” one, because that song has been stuck in my head for no reason at all (i also don’t know all the words, so it’s just the mini chorus playing over and over and over in my mind).

  2. Such a cute idea! Love the colors especially.

  3. Megan says:

    Adorable! Love the colors :)

  4. bahahah these are so cute. also, it’s funny that “netflix and chill” is such a thing now. lol lol lol

  5. madeline says:

    these are literally the cutest cookies ever!!!! Of course I love Hotline Bling and Swipe Right. so creative!

  6. ADRIANNA says:

    I wouldn’t know swipe right from left. LOL. Love these. Bye Felicia is my favorite. VERY CUTE.

  7. omg these are so cute / pretty… I love the shimmery icing!!! The hotline bling one is my fave! HAHA! I would like to add: on fleek. And also, maybe one from when we were the trendsetters aka the 90s/early 00s: so fine. Remember saying guys were soooo fine!? Also from our heyday: A/S/L? heheheHEHE. I could keep going…

  8. A few more, for consideration:
    no scrubs
    all that and a bag of chips
    wazzup (or wassup… or simply ‘sup)
    gettin jiggy
    phat!
    hottie
    talk to the hand
    as if

  9. This is the cutest thing ever! Thank you for sharing!

  10. Odessa says:

    These are so freaking cute! I love all the shades of icing ? and to answer your question, yes they do :) I work with kids and asked a little girl the same question, and she said they make each other valentine’s and have to write something nice to each person. I thought that was sweet.

  11. This post is cute AF! Love this!

  12. Caitlin says:

    ugh these are so cute I cannot handle this. LOVE the sea green color!

  13. Sean Prado says:

    I absolutely love the photography as well as the recipes. These are awesome and I can’t wait to try them out.

  14. Alana says:

    GAHHH I’m so stinken happy rn. “Let’s brie together” ‘cuz you’re “cute af” and “squad”, “I loaf you” guys a lot. “K thx bye”.

  15. Ok but I love them ALL!!! So much. No chill might be my favorite. But then there’s Bye Felicia. And let’s Brie together. And I can’t even! Gah! They’re perfect.

  16. Heather says:

    These are SO adorable! I love the ombre. Love you a brunch and swipe right might just be my faves.

  17. Kaitlin says:

    These are brilliant — I can’t even pick a favorite!

  18. Jess says:

    This is such a cute Valentine’s idea. I especially love the “You’re my jam” one!!!

  19. Phil says:

    LOVE IT! what piping bags are those? They look pretty cool.

    1. Stephanie Le says:

      they’re tip-less piping bags!

  20. HAHA love the rejection phrases, so cute!

  21. Diana says:

    How fabulous are these? Absolutely too cute, and such a fun idea! “Butter Half” might be my favorite, but they are all so clever. Thanks for sharing these beauties.

  22. Never heard the term cereal used as serious, but definitely work in conversation today! Love your says! Our families will get a kick out of these! Thanks for sharing!

  23. A says:

    pretty sure it’s “serial”. easier to see the relation to “serious” that way.

    1. Stephanie Le says:

      it’s both! people use serial too, but i like cereal because it’s so much cuter (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cereal)

  24. Alissa says:

    Definitely had to click through to the Urban Dictionary for cereal……

  25. i just assumed it meant let’s go eat bowls and bowls of cereal together when i saw your cookies. what in the actual H??? i guess in my day, saying “chawsome” was really cool. choice + awesome. if you had put chawsome on one of your cookies, the teens would have stoned you with pebbles for being so out of touch. ALSO: YES THEY STILL GIVE OUT VALENTINES!!! Teddy at his preschool made “valentines day bags” (aka brown paper bags with heart stickers and scribbles all over it) although, side note: Teddy said he didn’t want to make a valentines day bag, he wanted to make a Valentines day BACKPACK. Cool guy. at his age, basically parents wrote out the valentines and gave them to the teachers to put into all the kids’ paper bags … I did a very sneaky but funny and maybe clever move where I used leftover Halloween candy Smarties boxes and wrapped them up in cute paper with little hole-punch hearts that said love Teddy.

  26. ALSO YOUR COOKIES ARE SO AWESOME! COLOURS ARE SO CUTE AND VERY MERMAIDY-HAIR!!! XO

  27. Avery says:

    I swear I had the same idea of baking heart-shaped cookies for Valentines before I even saw this awesome post. I suppose we had the same brain wave, haha! Yours look way more gorgeous than I could ever wish for, and I loved your cute phrases! I’m 17 years old but I ashamedly know even less of the lingo nowadays (I actually had to google what “cereal” meant, lol). I just made some of these sugar cookies last week as gifts for my friends (literally a sweet gift, right?), although I omitted the icing because I was lazy haha. Hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day!

  28. Dan says:

    Really great recipe! I’ve been looking for a good sugar cookie, and this will do wonderfully! Thanks! I will definitely be using the “I loaf you.”

  29. Skylar says:

    Great recipe, loved the cookies.

  30. oh these are just brilliant! They remind me of the little love heart sweets we used to buy. I love the colour too! <3

  31. Lauren says:

    Hi! Super cute cookies! Only have a question regarding the royal icing. The ingredients call for vanilla but I could not find when this should be added in the recipe. Can you please confirm? Thank you!

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi lauren,
      you add it to the water at the beginning! i’ve updated the recipe, thanks for pointing that out! :)

      1. Lauren says:

        Thanks, Stephanie!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

$(function(){ var trigger = $('.hamburger'), overlay = $('.overlay'), isClosed = false; trigger.click(function () { hamburger_cross(); }); function hamburger_cross() { if (isClosed == true) { overlay.hide(); trigger.removeClass('is-open'); trigger.addClass('is-closed'); isClosed = false; } else { overlay.show(); trigger.removeClass('is-closed'); trigger.addClass('is-open'); isClosed = true; } } $('[data-toggle="offcanvas"]').click(function () { $('#wrapper').toggleClass('toggled'); }); bindBehavior.subscribe(); });