Mother’s Day is right around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about how you can treat your mom on her special day! Oftentimes, the simplest gifts are the ones that really show how much you care, which is where our 3 sweet and simple Mother’s Day shortbread cookies come in – they’re great gift ideas that come straight from the heart. Plus, these beautifully designed cookies both look and taste like their secret ingredient: love!
You’ll Need:
- 1½ sticks butter, softened
- 1¼ cups powdered sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2⅓ cups flour
- ¼ cup corn starch
- red food coloring
Here’s How:
Each of these 3 recipes uses shortbread cookie dough as the base. To make the cookie dough, knead the softened butter, powdered sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, flour, and corn starch by hand until a smooth dough forms. Divide the cookie dough into 2 parts, then knead red food coloring into 1 of the dough balls until fully incorporated. Cover both sets of cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
1. Heart Of My Heart Cookies
Yield: 8 cookies
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 minutes
Difficulty Level: Moderate
You’ll Need:
- small & large heart-shaped cookie cutters
Here’s How:
1.1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out both the red and uncolored sections of cookie dough into equally-large rectangles. Cut small hearts out of both rectangles at evenly-spaced intervals. Carefully remove the small hearts and insert them into the heart-shaped spaces left in the cookie dough of the opposite color.
1.2 Use a bigger heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut large hearts out of the patterned cookie dough. Place the large heart cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, transfer the baking tray to the oven, and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
2. Lucky Heart Cookies
Yield: 15–20 cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy
You’ll Need:
- small heart-shaped cookie cutter
Here’s How:
2.1 For this design, only ⅓ of the cookie dough should be colored with red food coloring before the dough is refrigerated, but feel free to change the ratio of red to uncolored hearts by changing the amount of dough you initially color. Preheat the oven to 350°F and roll out both the red and uncolored sections of cookie dough so that they are equally thick. Cut out 3 uncolored hearts to each 1 red heart with a small heart-shaped cookie cutter. Continue cutting out hearts from the remainder of the cookie dough. Arrange 4 hearts in the shape of a clover on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
2.2 Transfer the baking tray to the oven and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
3. Surprise Heart Cookies
Yield: 15-20 servings
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty Level: Moderate
You’ll Need:
- egg yolk + milk for the egg wash
- small heart-shaped cookie cutter
Here’s How:
3.1 Roll out the red cookie dough and cut small hearts out of the entire section of dough. Whisk together the egg yolk and milk, brush the egg wash over 1 of the red hearts, and stack another red heart on top.
3.2 Continue stacking the red hearts on top of each other, with a layer of egg wash in between each heart, until you end up with a long heart-shaped log. Freeze the log for about 15 minutes.
3.3 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the uncolored cookie dough into a rectangle and place it on a piece of plastic wrap. Remove the red heart-shaped log from the freezer and place it on the uncolored cookie dough. Use the plastic wrap to help roll the uncolored cookie dough around the heart-shaped log until you have a thick, even log with the red hearts completely hidden in the center. Put the roll of cookie dough back in the freezer for another 15 minutes.
3.4 Remove the roll of cookie dough from the freezer and cut it into even slices. Place the slices on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, transfer the baking tray to the oven, and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
These heart-shaped cookies are the perfect (and easiest) way to show your mom just how much you care. Feel free to use the cookie designs as they were shown here, or use them as inspiration for your own designs. Your mom is sure to love these sweet treats from the bottom of her heart!
Get the recipe for the 3 Special Mother’s Day Desserts featured in the bonus video.