Cake Stand with Valentine embossed Cookies
Food,  Projects

Great Tips for Creating Embossed Valentine’s Cookies

Do you remember the embossed rolling pin I shared with you in the heart gifts post? I have tips on creating the sweetest embossed Valentine’s cookies to share with you today.

I am so pleased with the results. So…here, we go!

Off to make cookies with that rolling pin!

For all of you with grandchildren or littles or bigs in your life who need a bit of love…you may need a personalized rolling pin of your own…I’ve linked affiliate links below for one similar to mine.

Now…the rolling pin that my husband ordered from Etsy for me came from Poland, I believe.

The recipe was in English, but the European measurements were a tiny bit daunting, right?

Things like gr were the abbreviations.

Now…I wanted to make sure that the recipe I used was one designed to use with this cute rolling pin…not veering off of the baking road just yet.

I have no clue who to thank for this great embossed Valentine cookie recipe.

  • Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius…hmmmm…that’s 392 degrees F…let’s call it 400 degrees!
  • Cream together butter and sugar with your mixer.
  • Add egg and extract and continue to mix well.
  • In a separate bowl sift together the all purpose flour and salt and add it to the creamed mixture a little at a time until well mixed.
  • Roll out the cookies onto a parchment paper, dusting with flour as necessary.
  • Cut into desired shapes and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  • Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes or until tops appear dry rather than shiny.

In researching embossed cookies, I knew this recipe was missing a few steps.

Begin by adding the powdered or confectioner’s sugar and softened unsalted butter to a mixer and cream together and then add the egg and extract.

It was interesting that the type of extract wasn’t given; so, I chose a mix of vanilla and almond.

mixing bowl with butter and powdered sugar for Embossed Valentine Cookie recipe

Chilling the dough before rolling is important. So, adding the dough into a ziplock bag for a few minutes is critical, especially with the embossing process. That step was left out of the recipe.

ziplock bag with sugar cookie dough

10 Tips for Embossed Cookies:

  1. Select a recipe that does not have acid or leavening agents to prevent losing the embossed image when baking.
  2. Be careful to roll the dough to an even thickness with a regular rolling pin BEFORE using the embossed rolling pin.
  3. Dust the embossed rolling pin with flour before rolling and as needed to prevent sticking. Shake out excess flour from the pin before using.
  4. Apply even pressure and only roll once and one direction when rolling with the embossed rolling pin.
  5. If dough warms during rolling, place back into the freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes. Warm dough will STICK to the embossed rolling pin!
  6. Be careful when cutting out cookies to make sure that the image is in the correct location within the cutter.
  7. To help the embossed image stay intact, refrigerate cookie dough after rolling and cutting prior to baking.
  8. Make sure that the oven is preheated and cookies are placed into the oven cold to ensure great results.
  9. To clean the embossed rolling pin after making the cookies, clean immediately with a dry brush. I had to use a toothpick to remove soft dough in one place on my pin. Not a fan of doing this!
  10. Be careful not to immerse the wooden embossed rolling pin in water or dishwasher. Keeping it dry is best practice for care.
DustingEmbossedRollingPinWithFlour

Cool the cookies before decorating.

You can see that I learned what to do and NOT to do with the above tips with my first attempt!

Does that happen to you, too?

Cooling Embossed Cookies on Cooling Rack

Even pressure and even thickness matter more with these cookies with both embossing and baking results. I am sharing my success and the “not so pretty” ones showing why this matters. Yep!

Close up of Embossed Valentine Cookies with white sprinkles

Embossed Valentine Cookies

A great cookie perfect for using an embossed rolling pin!
5 from 6 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • 1 embossed rolling pin if you have one!
  • 1 regular rolling pin
  • 1 mixer
  • 1 oven
  • microwave
  • 1 heart cookie cutter
  • 1 cookie sheet
  • parchment paper
  • quart ziploc freezer bags

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 lb unsalted butter, softened 230 g, if weighing
  • 7/8 C powdered sugar 175 g, if weighing
  • 3 1/4- 3 1/2 C all purpose flour 400-425 g, if weighing
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 t vanilla
  • 1 t almond extract
  • White chocolate or milk chocolate for dipping. Almond bark may be substituted for this.
  • Sprinkles

Instructions
 

  • Cream together butter and sugar with a mixer.
  • Add egg and extract and mix well.
  • Sift together flour and salt.
  • Add flour to the wet mixture a little at a time until well incorporated.
  • Place dough into a ziplock bag and chill before rolling out.
  • Dust the embossed rolling pin with a little flour in a sifter to prevent sticking and shake to remove excess.
  • Roll the dough onto parchment paper on a flat cookie sheet with a regular rolling pin first to desired thickness-
    (keep in mind that pressure with the embossed rolling pin will decrease thickness.)
  • Then roll the dough once in one direction with the embossed rolling pin, applying even pressure, ensuring evenly imprinting the image.
  • Cut cookies using a heart cookie cutter or desired shapes.
  • Remove extra dough from parchment so that only cut cookies are left on the cookie sheet.
  • Place the cookie sheet into the refrigerator for a few minutes to make sure that the cookies are cold before baking. This helps hold the "embossed" image a little better.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees while cookies are chilling.
  • Once chilled, bake cookies in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until tops appear dry rather than shiny. Remove before edges begin to brown.
  • Remove cookies from the oven and place cookie sheet on a cooling rack while preparing the chocolate or almond bark for dipping.
  • Add a few squares of almond bark to a quart sized freezer bag and microwave in 20 second increments until melted, turning over bag between warming.
  • Using kitchen shears, snip a tiny corner off for piping chocolate onto cookie.
  • Pipe chocolate edge on cookies and top with sprinkles.
  • Let cool and set completely before moving them from parchment paper.

Notes

A great recipe to use with an embossed rolling pin for any special occasion.
Enjoy!
Keyword Christmas cookies, embossed cookies, sugar cookies, Valentine cookies

Decorating Embossed Valentine Cookies

Because of the embossed writing on these Valentine cookies, I thought a simple edging with melted chocolate or almond bark was the perfect choice.

This recipe is not a really sweet one, so adding a bit of melted chocolate with sprinkles added just the right touch of sweetness to make it a special cookie.

DecoratedEmbossedValentineCookies

Can I tell you that I made a quick and easy decision in decorating these?!

I always temper chocolate or almond bark on the stove to dip strawberries, pretzel rods, etc.

But, it just seemed the perfect choice to add a few squares of almond bark into a ziploc freezer bag and microwave in 20 second increments until fully melted, turning over between each session.

Next, use kitchen shears to snip a tiny bit off one corner to form a tip for piping.

The next part is the hard part. It’s difficult to control melted chocolate flowing out of a tiny hole, so it’s not as easy to control than with tips and couplers.

***Avoiding tips and couplers allows you to remelt any chocolate as it hardens during the decorating process.

To help the “unforgiving” look of the out of control edging, smooth it with the edge of a knife and then IMMEDIATELY cover it with sprinkles.

Now, in true transparency, it took several tries with sanding sugar sprinkles, red sugar sprinkles with “not a fan” look that made me throw up my hands.

Can I tell you that the milk chocolate almond bark was really not a great look with this method!

Then I struck gold! These white “bead” like ones gave them such an elegant look.

Aren’t they amazing?

Close up of Embossed Valentine Cookies with white sprinkles

I am truly happy with learning the “how to” and tips for embossing these Valentine cookies.

The teacher in me always loves a learning process and this one was rewarding even through working through the issues.

Wouldn’t these be a perfect favor for an engagement party?

Wedding favors with the bride and groom’s names embossed in them?

How about Easter cookies? Christmas cookies? or just making cookies for family gatherings?

My party planning wheels are turning.

The embossing personalization world is unending…what message would be on your embossed rolling pin and how would you decorate your embossed cookies?

I hope you’ll give these a try and surprise those you love…and if you get an embossed rolling pin…will you please share the special treats you create with me??!

Decorated Valentine Cookies

It would make my heart soooo very happy! Thanks for reading and following and commenting, friends. You all are simply the best!

And…if you need more Valentine treat inspiration? I’ve got you!

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!

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