These beautiful sparkle sweetheart cookies are dressed up in Valentine’s Day sprinkles with a chocolate heart nestled on top. This is a simple cream cheese drop-style sugar cookie that only requires 30–60 minutes of cookie dough chilling.
Valentine’s Day & Galentine’s Day! Whether you celebrate February 14th with your sweetheart or your friends, I have a perfectly festive cookie for you!
These are my Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies aka:
- The Valentine’s Day version of Christmas Cookie Sparkles
- The peanut-free version of Peanut Butter Sweethearts
Dressed in sparkling sprinkles and sealed with a chocolate heart. Mwah!
Behind the Recipe: Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies
These are cream cheese sugar cookies. They’re extra thick and sweet with a lovely little tang. The cookie dough is made from simple sugar cookie ingredients like butter, sugar, egg, and flour. Cream cheese is a secret ingredient, transforming these soft sugar cookies into super soft and super creamy sugar cookies. For added flavor, I recommend a splash of almond extract. Almond extract pairs wonderfully with the chocolate heart on top!
The cookie dough needs to chill for 1 hour before rolling into balls. However, I successfully cut it down to only 30-45 minutes with success! If you’re in a rush this Valentine’s Day, these cookies are relatively quick.
There is NO rolling pin or cookie cutters required. Rather, this is a simple drop-style sugar cookie that bakes up perfectly round. Here is my cream cheese cut-out cookies with Nutella glaze recipe if you’re interested. Just as soft and creamy as today’s!
Here’s a tip: Notice how I’m pressing down the cookie dough balls? That’s an important step. These cream cheese cookies won’t really spread unless you give them a little nudge. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to slightly flatten down.
Glam it Up
Here are two little extras to glam up your sugar cookies:
- Sprinkles: Before baking, roll the cookie dough balls in sprinkles. Sprinkles give the cookies a light crunch, which is a lovely contrast to the creamy and soft centers. For a sparkling effect, I recommend “sanding sugar” or “coarse sugar sprinkles.” I found red and light pink in the seasonal section of my grocery, but I know red and a dark pink are available year round. You can also use regular jimmies or nonpareils if those are easier for you!
- Chocolate Hearts: Individually wrapped chocolate hearts are everywhere this time of year. I love Dove and Hershey’s brands. Hershey’s sells all different flavors, including white chocolate. I used solid milk chocolate for the pictured Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies. 🙂
Let me know if you try these for Valentine’s Day, and if you need more inspiration, here are 36+ Valentine’s Day dessert recipes.
More Valentine’s Day Desserts
To round out your Valentine’s Day celebration:
- Valentine’s Day Cupcakes & decorated Valentine’s Day Cookies
- Creme Brûlée (only 6 ingredients)
- Chocolate Truffles
- Chocolate Lava Cakes (only 6 ingredients)
- Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies (you can’t go wrong with classic chocolate chip cookies, either!)
- Valentine’s Day Chocolate Bark (only 3 ingredients)
- White Chocolate Red Velvet Cookies
Sparkle Sweetheart Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These sparkle sweetheart cookies are dressed up in Valentine’s Day sprinkles and a chocolate heart on top! This is a simple cream cheese drop-style sugar cookie that only requires 30-60 minutes of cookie dough chilling.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ounces (57g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract*
- 3/4 cup (150g) sanding sugar, pink and red or assorted colors*
- 32 chocolate hearts, unwrapped*
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese together on high speed until relatively smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat until combined and creamy. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. The dough will be thick. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for at least 30-60 minutes and up to 3-4 days. If chilling for longer than 2-3 hours, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard and the cookies may not spread.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Pour sanding sugar in a bowl or, if using multiple colors, a few separate bowls.
- Roll balls of cookie dough, about 1 Tablespoon of dough per cookie, then roll each ball in the sanding sugar to coat. Place each dough ball 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Using the back of a measuring cup or drinking glass, gently press down on each dough ball to slightly flatten. Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes or until very lightly browned on the edges.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Press a chocolate heart into each cookie and quickly stick the baking sheet in the freezer or fridge so the warm cookie does not completely melt the chocolate heart. Let the chocolate set (about 15 minutes) on the cookies in the freezer/refrigerator.
- Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. Unbaked cookie dough balls (without sanding sugar coating) will freeze well for up to 3 months. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, pre-heat the oven, then roll in sanding sugar. Bake as directed. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Valentine’s Day Sanding Sugars | Dove Chocolate Hearts (other brands like Hershey’s also have chocolate heart candies available around Valentine’s Day) | Cooling Rack
- Almond extract adds a wonderful flavor to the cookies, but you can leave it out if desired. No need to replace with anything.
- I find sanding sugar sprinkles at my regular grocery store. You can usually find them in the baking aisle. I like Wilton brand.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
These cookies melted in your mouth! I bake frequently from Sally’s recipes and I have always been successful! These sugar cookies are another hit!
Is “block “ cream cheese very different to the tubs of Philadelphia (or supermarket own brand equivalent) that we get in the uk?
You are my baking hero. You create everything I need exactly when I need them. Plus, You have amazing cookies. It is my parent’s anniversary soon. any ideas?
Could I freeze the chocolate hearts before I put them on the hot cookie? My fridge/freezer are small and cookie sheets don’t fit.
Hi Sara, You can certainly try it. If you notice the chocolates still melting you can move the cookies to a plate or smaller try and try putting that in the refrigerator instead of trying to fit the entire baking sheet.
Hi, Sally! I love your recipes. Your blog is my go-to site for baking. This is one of my favorite recipes of yours. I was wondering if you had any advice on how I could give a cherry spin on the cookie base. Do you have any tips regarding maraschino cherry bits/juice, food coloring amount, or cherry extract? Thanks in advance!
Hi Tricia! I’m happy to help. Try my chocolate cherry blossom cookies!
Sally,
You have very well tested, high quality recipes on this blog. It is my go to for baking recipes and I always get compliments from people and refer them to your blog every time. Thank you so much.
This is a delicious recipe. I love the almond extract flavor in the cookies with the subtle crunch of the sprinkles and smooth, dark chocolate to top it off. I want to make them again just so I can freeze some for myself! To make them non Valentine’s Day I might just put a dark chocolate kiss or something in the center and use a different color sprinkle.
My daughters’ home hockey tournament was this past weekend and I made these for the potluck we had. The girls are always asking me to bring cookies, so I thought I’d bring these to switch it up from the old standbys of Snickerdoodles & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I swapped out sanding sugar for colorful nonpareil sprinkles and broke a small Hershey candy bar in half (some Special Dark & some milk chocolate) instead of using a heart shaped chocolate. Anyway, these were an absolute hit! They asked me to make more for our State tournament. Thank you!
sweet
Fun for the holiday! Thank you for the inspiration! Wish I could leave a picture.
Delicious. Just made with my 3 year old. He did all the decorating!
Hi! Question, you say 2 sticks of butter is 240 grams but one stick of butter actually weighs 113 grams. So should the butter measurement be 226 grams? I thought my scale was off when I measured it so checked the accuracy with a nickel and it’s spot on so I googled how much 1 stick should be and came across lots of sites saying 113. Just want to verify before I make them.
Hi Jan! 1/2 cup of butter is about 115g, so you can use anywhere between the amount you’re measuring and the called for 240g. 16g won’t make a difference in the final cookies.
I am planning on making these for my kid’s school valentine’s party. How necessary is it to chill the cookies after putting the chocolate on? Fridge/freezer space is at quite a premium. Could I freeze the chocolate before topping the cookies?
Hi Andrea, You want to press the chocolate into the warm cookie so that it melts enough to stick. But then you want to stop the cookie from completely melting the chocolate heart – which is why I stick them back in the fridge or freezer. You can certainly try using a frozen chocolate to see if makes a difference!
How important is the chilling process?
It’s very important! Without chilling the dough will be too soft and sticky to roll into balls and the dough will spread out too much when baking.
Hi sally
Wondering about red gel color? I’m baking them NOW but the pink sanding sugar isn’t really bright enough. I have a dark pink sugar which looks great but just thinking V-day. They smell so good already whatever they look like!Look for them on Instagram!!
Hi Jennifer, Are you asking if you can add red gel color to the cookie dough? If so then yes you can 🙂
Can you tell me the brand of chocolate hearts? I haven’t seen anything like this in the stores. Thanks!
Dove! 🙂
I was so tickled to see such a pretty recipe and couldn’t wait to make it. I make many, many cookies so did it confidently and exactly. They came out of the oven perfectly – beautiful cookies. But they are HARD – very stiff, very solid. Gorgeous, but almost too hard to bite and they sure don’t taste good. I can’t think of what I did wrong. What do you think I did or failed to do?
Hi Nancy! Thanks for trying my cookies! It sounds like the cookies were over-baked, which is an easy fix if you decide to try them again. They should be soft in the centers. Also, make sure you are spooning and leveling your flour. Too much flour will dry out the dough.
Sally
I love baking and your website is always my go to for trying new recipes. You never disappoint to have creative and delicious desserts! Thank you for all your helpful hints on baking. Can’t wait to try these Valentine cookies.
One of your biggest fans! Karen
Good morning,
Thoughts on converting to a chocolate version?
Absolutely! Try the cookie dough for my Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies (leave out the chips and roll dough balls in sprinkles) or my Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprints (leave out the peppermint, no need to indent with your thumb, roll in sprinkles instead of granulated sugar).
Awesome…thank you! I made them today using the thumbprint recipe…I did them like blossoms and rolled in sugar…I did some with solid chocolate hearts (milk and dark) drizzled with white chocolate and then others with reeses pb hearts and drizzled with peanut butter…so stinkin’ adorable! Thank you so much for sharing your gift with us 🙂
Hi Sally,
I enjoy your recipes and first go to for baking.
Would like to make this recipe for Valentine Party for my granddaughter. Have one gluten free kiddo. Can I substitute all purpose gluten free flour?
Thank you!
Hi Ann, I have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour but let me know if you try it!
Hi Sally! Could I halve this recipe? If so, would anything need to be adjusted other than dividing the amounts in 2?
That should be fine. For the egg, beat the egg then use half of the mixture.
I made these cookies on V Day for my grandchildren (and, of course, everyone else). These cookies are always a hit. I plan on making them for Easter with different colored sprinkles. Thank you for another great recipe.
I love sugar cookies and these are awesome, with or without the chocolate. I love that I don’t have to roll and cut the dough and still have a buttery cookie. Will definitely be making these again.
made these this weekend for my niece and nephews as a Valentine’s Day treat! OMG sooo delicious! the sugar cookies are amazing plain, and the addition of the chocolate heart on top is the best (chocoholic over here!!) My husband was really glad I saved some for him!
Great recipe! Just made them for my boys for Valentine’s Day and they love them!
Made these today. Combined light and dark pink sugars. Great sparkle. Found milk chocolate Dove chocolates with pink champagne ribbons! Perfect for Valentine’s Day! Really complemented the almond flavoring.
Made these and gave them to some friends. Response was – very delicious. Will make another batch for Valentine’s Day to give out.
I made these cookies today. I made one batch with the chocolate heart , and one batch without. I thought the Chocolate heart made them hard to eat. This is a delicious recipe, with or without the chocolate. I really like the crunch the sanding sugar gave. I will be making them again, but without the chocolate.
I just made these but with a Reese’s peanut butter cup heart (because I couldn’t find the Dove ❤️s). Now I have to hide them from myself so they make it to my son’s house tomorrow! Your recipes are the best! Thank you!!!
Hi Sally,
I have a thing about cream cheese, I hate it. Can i substitute more butter instead?
Thanks!
Hi Stephanie! You can replace the cream cheese with the same amount of softened unsalted butter.
Hi! Just wondering- can you use low fat cream cheese with these? Or is it better to use full fat? They’re so darn cute!
Thanks Nora! Full fat is best in these cookies.