Nothing says Valentine’s Day like these Valentine’s Day Mason Jar Cookies. They’re made with vanilla sugar cookies, royal icing chocolate kisses and hand-written royal icing gift tags. These Valentine’s Day Mason Jar Cookies make the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for friends!
I love Valentine’s Day! I’m not exactly a sparkly hearts kinda girl, but I can’t help loving all the pink, red, glitter, and general cheesiness of Valentine’s Day. It just makes me so happy 🙂
Who can resist a mason jar filled with chocolate kisses? Plus – the whole thing is edible (including the gift tag!).
Each Valentine’s Day Mason Jar Cookie is pretty large. Each one is about 5 1/2 inches tall. So gifting one of these cookies is perfectly substantial. But you could give a whole bunch to someone you really like 😉
I used a paper template to cut out each cookie. You could just buy a mason jar cookie cutter, but I decided to make these sort of last minute, and the last thing I wanted to do was go out and find the appropriate size/shape cutter.
I used royal icing transfers to make the gift tags. The gift tags ended up being a little more fragile than I would have liked, but they looked pretty darn adorable.
If you follow me on Snapchat (@craftingfoodie) or Instagram (@thecraftingfoodie) you know that I’m working on another set or two of Valentine’s Day cookies. I’m sort of uncertain about how they’ll turn out, but I figure if I add sparkles and hearts, how bad can they be?
- For the Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup, unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 tbs good quality vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- For the Royal Icing
- 5 tbs meringue powder
- ¾ cups water
- 1 tbs good quality vanilla extract
- Pink Gel Food Color (I used a Wilton Rose)
- Red Gel Food Color (I used a combination of AmeriColor Tulip Red and Red Red)
- Blue Gel Food Color (I used AmeriColor Sky Blue)
- Black Gel Food Color (I used AmeriColor Black)
- Brown Gel Food Color (I used AmeriColor Warm Brown)
- Pink, Red, and Sliver Sanding Sugar
- Pink food color marker
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, sift the all-purpose flour and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar.
- Once fluffy, add the egg and vanilla. Mix until just combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Place the dough in a bowl, and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes. Do NOT refrigerate this dough. The cookies must be rolled out and baked right after the dough is made.
- Line sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Lightly flour a work surface and roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes and bake for about 7 to 8 minutes. If you’d like soft cookies, make sure that the cookies do not brown.
- Once the cookies are baked, allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- In the bowl of a mixer place the meringue powder and water. Whisk by hand for a few minutes until the powder is dissolved and the mixture bubbles.
- Add the vanilla and hand whisk for an additional minute.
- Place the bowl in the mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Add all the confectioners’ sugar at once.
- Mix on medium speed for about 5 to 7 minutes. You know the mixture is ready when it’s white, fluffy, and stiff enough to hold peaks.
- Make the royal icing transfers using a tag template and white royal icing. Allow them to dry for 24 hours.
- Flood the tops of the jar with royal icing tinted grey (simply add a bit of black royal icing to white royal icing)
- Flood the rest of the jar with light blue royal icing.
- While the light blue royal icing is still wet, add the darker blue accent lines to add detail to the jar.
- Allow the royal icing to dry completely.
- Start piping the chocolate kisses. Pipe them one at a time, and while the icing is still wet, cover with sanding sugar. Make sure to allow each chocolate is completely dry before moving on to the next color.
- Once all the chocolate kisses are completed, pipe out the tags. Allow them to dry completely, then add the labels using a pink food color maker.
- Add the grey royal icing details to the top of the jar.
- Add white royal icing lines to the jar.
- Allow the entire cookie to dry completely .
- Using brown food color and a food-safe paint brush, paint each of the tags brown. Allow them to dry completely. Then add a message to each tag.
- Using baker’s twine, attach the tag to each cookie
I am impressed! These look fantastic! Wish I was as talented as you. Ha! 😉
Awesome decorating skills! 🙂
You’re so sweet, Maria! Thanks 🙂
These look beautiful! Yum!
Thanks so much!