Valentine’s crinkle cookies
Valentine’s day is a great time to get children busy in the kitchen. These Valentine’s crinkle cookies are an easy, fun bake that kids will love.
Valentine’s day is a great time to get children busy in the kitchen, and these Valentine’s cookies are the perfect recipe. It’s fun turning simple baking ideas into bakes with a love theme. We had a Valentine’s cake sale at the kids sale so thought is was a great chance for the kids to each choose something to bake. Hannah wanted to try these Valentine’s crinkle cookies – we’ve made chocolate ones before and they were so delicious we couldn’t resist making them again but making pink and red vanilla flavoured ones.
A lot of recipes for crinkle cookies use a cake mix as the base, but we tend to just use what we have in the house so started these from scratch. I’ve never tried the cake mix ones but I do know my kids like getting to measure everything out (licking the spoon as they go) so I prefer doing it this old fashioned way!
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 30 minutes, plus 4 hous chilling, plus 10 minutes baking
Serves: 15 cookies
Ingredients
80g butter, softened
160g granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
190g plain/all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup icing sugar
Red/pink food colour
how to make valentine’s crinkle cookies
Mix the butter and sugar together
Get your kids to weigh the butter (80g) and sugar (160g) and add them to a large mixing bowl or freestanding mixer. Beat them together until they are light and fluffy using a hand held mixer or the paddle attachment of your freestanding mixer, or wooden spoons if you have neither of those.
If the butter isn’t soft, we normally blast it in the microwave for a few seconds, not to melt it just to soften it, before adding it to the bowl to make sure it mixes in properly.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract
Get your kids to crack the eggs into a separate small bowl just in case they get any rogue shell in it, then add it to your mixing bowl. Measure the vanilla extract (1 tsp) and pour it into the bowl as well. Give everything another good mix.
Add the flour
Weigh the flour and add it to your mixing bowl, stir it in until it has just combined.
Colour the cookie dough
To make these nice and pretty for Valentine’s day we decided to make some of the crinkle cookies red, and some pink. Half the dough into two small bowls and add some red/pink food colouring. Using a small spoon, mix it together until the colour is all the way through. Make sure you use good quality food colour gels that are bake safe otherwise they will lose colour when you bake them.
Cover each bowl and leave in the fridge for at least four hours, but preferably over night. It’s quite a soft dough so needs time in the fridge to stiffen up otherwise you won’t be able to roll it into cookies.
Make the Valentine’s crinkle cookies
Preheat your oven to 180C/170C Fan/350F and line two or three baking trays with baking paper.
Measure the icing sugar out into a small bowl. Using a teaspoon spoon some cookie dough out and roll it into a ball. Roll it through the icing sugar until it is all coated in icing. We found the dough quite sticky and found some balls were easier to roll once they were coated in the icing. Place each cookie ball on your baking tray leaving space in between for them to spread a bit.
If, like Lewis, your kids don’t want to get their hands all messy, let them spoon the dough while you roll it out. Or vice versa if they like messy hands!
Bake the Valentine’s crinkle cookies
Bake the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes. They’re ready when they have spread a little and formed the pretty crinkle pattern. They’ll still be a little soft when they come out the oven but that’s fine.
Leave them on the trays for a few minutes to cool before putting them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Valentine's crinkle cookies
Ingredients
- 80 g butter softened
- 160 g granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 190 g plain/all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup icing sugar
- Red/pink food colour
Instructions
Mix the butter and sugar together
- Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl or freestanding mixer. Beat them together until they are light and fluffy using a hand held mixer or the paddle attachment of your freestanding mixer, or wooden spoons if you have neither of those.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract
- Add the eggs. and vanilla extract and give everything a good mix.
Add the flour
- Add the flour and mix it in until it has just combined.
Colour the cookie dough
- Add some oven safe red or pink food colouring and mix it through the dough.
- Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge for at least four hours, but preferably over night.
Make the Valentine's crinkle cookies
- Preheat your oven to 180C/170C Fan/350F and line two or three baking trays with baking paper.
- Put the icing sugar in a small bowl. Using a teaspoon spoon some cookie dough out and roll it into a ball. Roll it through the icing sugar until it is all coated in icing. Place each cookie ball on your baking tray leaving space in between for them to spread a bit.
Bake the Valentine's crinkle cookies
- Bake the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes. They're ready when they have spread a little and formed the pretty crinkle pattern. They'll still be a little soft when they come out the oven but that's fine.
- Leave them on the trays for a few minutes to cool before putting them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Similar recipes
If you liked these Valentine’s cookies you’ll love our other biscuit and cookie recipes as well as our favourite easy baking recipes for kids.
This month we’re linking our recipe to:
These look fab and sound like lots of fun to make. I love their famous crinkle pattern and the Valentine’s Day colours are lovely. Thank you for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
We love crinkle cookies here, I do make some with Jack Daniels actually for that extra treat!