Turning my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies into Valentine’s Day Chocolate Chip Cookies makes my heart happy. Who wouldn’t love a soft and thick cookie full of chocolate chips that is made even better with the addition of heart sprinkles and candy? These cookies are a Valentine dream come true and the best part is that they are made with cold butter. That means you don’t even have to wait for your butter to soften, you can make them this very minute. No planning ahead required.
Do you love Valentine’s Day treats? Try these Valentine’s Heart Pretzels!
Valentine’s Day Cookies
I love a good holiday cookie and Valentine’s Day is no exception. The awesome part about this Valentine’s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is that you don’t have to worry about getting it into a heart shape.
The hearts are in the cookie in the form of adorable sprinkles and the milk chocolate candy nestled on top of each thick chocolate chip cookie.
These Valentine’s Day Cookies are perfect for an after school snack, after dinner treat, gift for those you love or even to serve at a party.
Ingredients Need for your Heart Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Butter-Added the cold butter will give you great flavor and allow you to skip the chilling process.
- Brown Sugar-My favorite baking ingredient because of the deep {yet sweet} flavor it gives the cookies, along with a softness from the molasses.
- Granulated Sugar-Another sweetener, granulated sugar will typically give you a crispier cookie. That is why we use less of it in this recipe.
- Eggs-Used to bind all of the other ingredients and give them great texture.
- All Purpose Flour-Added for structure in the cookie, it is important to measure correctly in order to get the soft cookie we are going for.
- Cornstarch-Adding a bit of cornstarch will give you a more tender cookie.
- Baking Soda-The leavening agent in the cookie, baking soda is what allows the cookies to rise.
- Salt-All good baked items need salt added because it will help enhance all of the other flavors.
- Chocolate Chips-In this recipe I used mini semi sweet chocolate chips because I was adding a large milk chocolate heart to the top but you can use whatever kind of chocolate chips you prefer.
- Valentine Sprinkles-I am in love with these mini heart sprinkles but you can use any kind of valentine sprinkles for the same effect.
- Heart Shaped Chocolate Candy-I used Hershey’s milk chocolate hearts but there are other brands with all chocolate heart shaped candy.
How to Make Valentine’s Day Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Begin by cutting your cold butter into cubes and placing them into your mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer is a requirement for this recipe because it is going to do some hard work. Cutting the butter into cubes allows it to work into the sugar much easier.
- Add both the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the cubed butter and mix for about 4 minutes on medium speed. The goal is to cream the butter and sugar together like you normally would with room temperature butter.
- This is what the texture of the dough will look like when the butter and sugars have mixed together.
- Then add each egg to the mixture one at a time. Mix until they are completely incorporated into the dough. This particular recipe doesn’t call for vanilla but you could add a couple of teaspoons if you wanted to.
- Once the eggs are mixed in, add the dry ingredients {flour, baking soda and salt} at one time and mix until just combined. Remember, we don’t want to overwork the dough and bring the temperature of the butter down.
- The finished dough will be thick and beautiful.
- Gather your mini chocolate chips, sprinkles and heart candy {that we will add after baking}.
- Finally add the mini chocolate chips and Valentine sprinkles to the dough. Mix them into the dough by hand so that the sprinkles don’t break up into the dough.
Scoop mounds of dough using a large cookie scoop {or about 1/3 cup} onto a silicone mat {or parchment} lined baking sheet.
Go back and add a few additional sprinkles to the top of each cookie dough mound. This will ensure that every cookie will look gorgeous on top and bake up perfectly.
Lastly, bake in a 410 degree oven for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies are set and starting to turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes place an unwrapped chocolate heart into the middle of each cookie and press down slightly. Allow the cookies to cool for an additional 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet and then move to a cooling rack.
Can you make these into Valentine’s Cookie Bars?
Yes, you can make this Valentine’s Day Chocolate Chip Cookies dough into bars. Put the dough into a greased 9×13 baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes {or until they are light brown and slightly firm to the touch}. For super chewy bars, don’t over bake.
Benefits of using Cold Butter in this Holiday Cookie Recipe
- It speeds up the cookie baking process because you don’t have to wait for butter to soften. Using cold butter also allows you to be able to bake cookies anytime because you don’t have to plan ahead.
- The cold butter keeps the cookie dough chilled, so it helps eliminate that step from the baking process. Chilling the dough is great when you want a thick cookie. Using cold butter gives you that awesome thick and gooey texture without refrigerating the dough. That saves you a ton of time.
How to store these Valentine’s Cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container. Keep at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Do you love Chocolate Chip Cookies? Try one of these awesome recipes…
- Grandma Pearl’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Thick and Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Everyday Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizookie
Valentine's Day Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Turn the best chocolate chip cookie recipe into a Valentine's Day treat triumph with the addition of valentine sprinkles and a chocolate heart.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter cold and cut into cubes
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teapsoon cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teapoon salt
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup valentine sprinkles
- 24 chocolate hearts unwrapped
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 410°.
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In a large bowl from your mixer, combine the cold cubed butter and both sugars. Fitted with the paddle attachment, mix ingredients on a medium speed for about 4 minutes or until creamy.
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Add eggs, one at a time. Be sure to mix well after adding each one.
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In a separate bowl combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Whisk ingredients together and then add to the butter and sugar mixture all at once. Mix until just combined. You do not want to over mix {this will heat up your butter}. Add your chocolate chips and sprinkles, mix by hand until evenly distributed.
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Use a large cookie scoop {or about 3 tablespoons of dough} to scoop mounds of cookie dough onto a silicone mat {or parchment} lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are set and starting to turn golden brown.
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Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Add an unwrapped chocolate heart to the middle of each cookie and allow the cookies to cool for an additional 3-4 minutes on the baking sheet. After that, move them to a cooling rack to cool completely and allow the chocolate hearts to set back up.
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Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes
- To make into bars: Pat the dough into an even layer in a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until set and golden brown. Allow the cookie bars to cool for 15 minutes and then place a chocolate heart in the middle of each bar.