Easy Cookie Valentine’s Day Treats for School Parties
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Sugar cookies are one of the most loved homemade Valentine’s Day treats for school parties. Festive, pretty, and delicious, they’re simply a perfect choice.
You can make these Valentine’s Day treats even simpler by purchasing Valentine cards from the store. Punch a hole in the Valentine card and string it onto the bag holding the cookie. This is exactly what I did for my son’s preschool party and it was a success!
What’s great about these cookies is that the possibilities are truly endless. I went with a heart and yellow buttercream with colorful sprinkles. Choose any shape, any color of buttercream, and any sprinkle mix and you’ve got a winning Valentine’s Day treat for the school party.
Let’s dive in to the details of making these treats come to life.
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How to Make The Best Valentine’s Day Treats for School Parties
Step One: Purchase the Supplies
For these semi-homemade Valentine’s Day treats, you will need:
- Store bought Valentine’s Day cards (or go the extra mile and make your own)
- Sprinkle mix that matches the Valentine’s Day cards (or use clear sanding sugar)
- Mini heart cookie cutter
- Treat bags – I find the 3″ wide cellophane bags to be perfect for mini cookie cutters
- Disposable piping bag and star piping tip – find these in the baking aisle of your grocery store
- Scissors, ribbon, and hole punch
- Kitchen baking supplies: cookie sheet, rolling pin, mixing bowl, measuring cups/spoons, stand mixer
- Sugar cookie & buttercream frosting ingredients, see below
To make the sugar cookies and buttercream frosting, you will need a combined total of:
- 1 cup of salted butter
- 1 cup of unsalted butter
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 4 cups of powdered sugar
- 3 cups of all purpose flour, plus more for rolling the cookie dough
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp. milk
- gel food dye
Once you have all of your supplies and ingredients, the next step will be to bake the sugar cookies.
Step Two: Bake the Sugar Cookies
Our next step is to bake the sugar cookies. You can do this as far in advance as three months before the party or two days before the party. It’s important to have the cookies frosted for 12 hours before you need to bag them and attach the Valentine’s Day card.
To bake the sugar cookies, first preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, in a medium sized mixing bowl, combine three cups of flour with two teaspoons of baking powder.
When measuring flour, use the scoop and level method. Alternatively, weigh the flour: you will need 384 grams of all purpose flour.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream one cup of cold salted butter with one cup of granulated sugar. Once creamed, add in one tablespoon of vanilla extract and one egg. Mix until combined.
Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients from the medium sized mixing bowl. You will know the dough is ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Roll the dough onto a floured surface or a piece of parchment paper to 3/8″ thick. I love to use my Joseph Joseph rolling pin because I can set it to roll at exactly 3/8″ thick.
Cut out cookies using the mini cookie cutter and place onto a lined baking sheet. You can line with parchment paper or a silicone mat. When you place the cookies on the sheet, make sure to not overcrowd the pan or your cookies will spread. Leaving about 2″ between each cookie is best.
Bake for 7-10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies no longer appear wet. Allow the cookies to cool completely before moving to step three, frosting the cookies.
Step Three: Make the Buttercream Frosting & Frost the Cookies
You will need one cup of room temperature unsalted butter so allow your butter to come to room temperature.
Once at room temperature, add the butter to the stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat the butter on medium to high speed until light and fluffy, a few minutes.
Add in four cups of powdered sugar, one tablespoon of vanilla extract, and two tablespoons of milk. Cover the stand mixer with a paper towel to prevent a mess and mix on LOW speed until combined. Mixing any higher than low speed will incorporate air bubbles.
Add in the gel food dye. DO NOT USE LIQUID DYE. I repeat, do not use liquid dye. Liquid dye will not be strong enough for thick buttercream frosting.
Here is my favorite gel food dye brand.
You can add in the dye while mixing on low or using a rubber spatula.
Add the buttercream frosting to a piping bag with a star piping tip. You can find piping bags and decorating tips in the baking aisle of the grocery store, usually near the sprinkles.
To pipe on heart cookies, simply pipe a “V” shape onto the cookie. You will draw a diagonal line starting at the top of the heart and ending at the bottom of the heart for each side of the heart.
Lastly, add sprinkles or sanding sugar onto the hearts.
Allow the cookies to sit out at room temperature for 12 hours before packaging them. This allows the buttercream frosting to form a crust on the outer layer of frosting, protecting the design in the bag.
Step Four: Packaging the Valentine’s Day Treats for the School Party
Carefully place the Valentine’s Day cookies into the cellophane bag. Punch a hole in the Valentine’s Day card and string it on to a piece of ribbon. Tie the ribbon around the bag and then trim the bag to size. That’s it!
To bring them to school, you can place them in a box or bag. I prefer to place my buttercream sugar cookies in pizza boxes to limit the amount of stacking the cookies undergo, as buttercream is a bit more fragile than royal icing cookies.
These Valentine’s Day treats for school parties are just perfect in my opinion. They hold up really well and it’s a nice change of pace from the candy and small toys often given in Valentine’s Day school parties.
Heavenly Buttercream Cookie Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with a Paddle Attachment
- Rubber Spatula
- Medium Sized Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Cookie Sheet with Silicone Baking Mat
- Rolling Pin
- Disposable Piping Bag
- Angled Flat Spatula & Decorating Tip optional
Ingredients
Soft Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling scoop & level method
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup cold salted butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 egg duck egg is highly recommended if possible
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup room temperature unsalted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar confectioner's sugar
- 1-3 tbsp. milk whole milk is best
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- gel food dye optional
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- While you will make the cookies first, you will want to set the unsalted butter out so that it comes to room temperature. The unsalted butter will be used when preparing the buttercream.
Soft Sugar Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in the flour and baking powder. Stir the ingredients to combine them.
- In the stand mixer, cream the salted butter and sugar together until all of the butter lumps are gone.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.
- Slowly add the flour and baking powder mixture into the wet ingredients until the dough forms a ball. If the ball is very sticky, add another tablespoon of flour.
- Roll the dough onto a floured surface and use the round cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
- Place six cut out cookies onto a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the center of the cookies do not appear wet.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a piece of parchment paper. Repeat the cookie baking process for all remaining cookies.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Add the room temperature unsalted butter to the stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until lighter in color.
- Add the powdered sugar to the mixer, along with the vanilla extract and one tablespoon of milk.
- Place a clean towel over the stand mixer and mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides if needed.
- If the frosting is thicker than a creamy peanut butter consistency, add in 1-2 more tablespoons of milk.
- Use the rubber spatula to mix in the gel food dye if you want colored buttercream.
Decorating the Buttercream Cookies
- Take the cookies out of the freezer and arrange them on a piece of parchment paper.
- Add about a cup of prepared buttercream frosting to a disposable piping bag.
- Cut a hole at the end of the piping bag that is around 1/2" in diameter.
- Squeeze the frosting out of the piping bag onto the center of the cookie until the frosting covers the cookie.
- Optional: Use an angled flat spatula to swirl the buttercream and then top with sprinkles.
Save The Best Valentine’s Day Treats for School Parties
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