Spring Cookies with a Heart

Have you ever wondered just how many different cookie shapes you could make with one cookie cutter? (These are the things I think about sometimes.) If I had just one—one heart-shaped cookie cutter, for example—what could I make? Let’s find out! We’ll make a bunch of spring cookies with a heart.

First, we’ll start with our favorite cookie dough. I love this recipe because you don’t even need to chill the dough before rolling out. (I like to add orange oil along with the vanilla.) Choose your cutter; mine is tiny, about an inch tall. And prep your surface with a silicone baking mat or other nonstick material. Get your baking sheets ready, too. I use parchment on mine to avoid sticking.

Cut out a bunch of hearts, then put them together on your baking sheets. We’ll start with two hearts.

You can pair them for four “petal” shapes, or smush together the two to make one large petal in the middle. You can even cut additional pieces to add more petals behind the first set.

Put three together, then four, then five. What about six?  With my cutter I can’t quite make this work…but I can cut that sixth heart down the middle to add one extra “petal” to the cookie shape.

Press the pieces together gently before baking so they come out stuck all together. You can pinch the curves or smooth the points or anything you’d like to reshape a bit before baking. The photo above shows what they might look like when they come out of the oven.

Now, we decorate the spring cookies!

Cookies with two hearts can become crocuses, in yellow and purple and even with stripes. I think this shape would also work for tulip cookies.

I see the three-heart cookies as clovers, and the four-heart cookies as even luckier clovers. The four hearts would make perfect petals for dogwood blossoms, too.

Five hearts together make cherry blossoms. Or apple, plum, peach, or shore roses, too. You can change the color of the blossom, or blend more than one color. Add some colored sugar or sprinkles to the center to finish.

These might be my favorite. You could make them black-eyed susans or sunflowers (with chocolate sprinkle centers). Chrysanthemums, too. Or dahlias, or asters, or…so many options!

I think these hearts and parts of hearts started in my mind as tulips, but in the end I wonder if they look more like lotus or (maybe some other, imaginary bloom!)? I like that you can make a new, bigger flower by placing them together on a platter.

I’m sure you could make lots of other spring cookie shapes with a heart cutter! I’d love to see how you decorate them, too. (You can tell I won’t be giving up my day job anytime soon!)

Do you have a favorite spring cookie? How do you decorate them?