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Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies with a Surprise Valentine Centre
Bake these Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies with buttery vanilla dough, colourful rainbow layers, a sweet heart-shaped centre, and plenty of sprinkles. They’re a fun Valentine’s Day treat that looks stunning when sliced.
Additional Information
- How many cookies will this make? About 24 to 30 cookies, depending on the size of your heart cookie cutter and how thick you slice the finished dough roll.
- Why is there so much chilling and freezing? The dough needs to stay firm so the rainbow layers remain neat, the heart shape holds together, and the cookies don’t spread excessively during baking.
- Can I use regular flour instead of cake flour? You can, but the texture may be slightly less tender. Cake flour is recommended for the softer, more delicate cookie texture.
- Do I need to use all six rainbow colours? No. You can use fewer colours if you prefer, but six colours create the classic rainbow effect.
- Can I use gel food colouring? Yes. Gel food colouring is a good choice because it gives strong colour without adding much extra moisture to the dough.
- What if my dough gets too soft? Stop working with it and refrigerate it until firm again. Cold dough is much easier to shape and slice cleanly.
- Can These Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies Be Frozen? Yes. They can be frozen as a fully assembled, unbaked dough log before slicing, although you may need to let it soften slightly in the refrigerator before cutting.
- How Long Can They Be Stored and How? Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, freeze the completely cooled cookies for up to 2 months and thaw them at room temperature.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Unsalted butter: Salted butter can be used. Simply reduce or omit the added pinch of salt.
- Cake flour: All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, although the cookies may have a slightly firmer texture.
- Pure vanilla extract: Vanilla bean paste or an alcohol free vanilla flavouring can be used.
- Food colouring: Gel food colouring is ideal, but liquid food colouring will also work. Add it gradually so you don’t make the dough too wet.
- Sprinkles: Use nonpareils, jimmies, or your favourite small sprinkles. Choose sprinkles that will stick well to the egg-washed dough.
These buttery Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies hide a rainbow heart that makes every slice a little more fun.
Print
Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 24 to 30 cookies, depending on the size 1x
- Category: Cake Cupcakes Cookies and Tarts
- Method: Moderate Baking
Description
These Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies are buttery, colourful, and such a fun surprise when you slice into them. The little rainbow hearts tucked inside a sprinkle-covered cookie make these perfect for Valentine’s Day, parties, or anytime you want to bake something that gets people talking
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Vanilla Cookie Dough
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (170 g), softened
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (155 g)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour (310 g)
Rainbow Dough
- Food colouring in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet
Assembly and Finishing
- Sprinkles, enough to coat the outside of the cookie dough roll
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
- Beat the softened 3/4 cup unsalted butter (170 g) until smooth, creamy, and about the consistency of mayonnaise. Make sure there aren’t any lumps.
- Add the 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (155 g) and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Mix in the 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, pinch of salt, and 3 large egg yolks, one at a time, until the mixture is creamy.
- Add the 2 1/2 cups cake flour (310 g) and fold it in until a soft dough forms. Don’t overmix it or the cookies can turn out tougher than you want.
- Turn the dough onto a clean work surface and gently knead it just until it comes together.
- Divide the dough into portions for the rainbow colours. Tint each portion with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet food colouring. The portions don’t have to be perfectly identical, but try to keep them fairly even so the rainbow layers look balanced.
- Wrap the coloured dough portions separately and refrigerate for 1 hour. Chilling makes the dough much easier to roll and handle.
- Roll each coloured dough portion into a sheet. Keep the sheets fairly thin and make them roughly the same size. The final thickness should work with the size of your heart cookie cutter.
- Combine the 1 large egg white and 1 tsp water to make the egg wash.
- Place the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet dough sheets on top of one another, brushing a very thin layer of egg wash between each sheet to help them stick together.
- Gently press the layers together without squashing them. Wrap the layered dough and refrigerate for 1 hour so it firms up.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the chilled rainbow dough into strips. The width of each strip should be slightly smaller than the height of your heart cookie cutter.
- Turn each strip so the rainbow layers are facing up. Use your heart cookie cutter to cut out as many rainbow hearts as possible.
- Place the rainbow hearts close together in a straight line, applying a very thin layer of egg wash between each heart as glue. Press them gently together to form one long heart-shaped cookie dough roll.
- Wrap the heart roll and freeze for 1 hour. This step is important because it helps the heart shape hold together when you cover it with the outer dough.
- Take the remaining uncoloured vanilla cookie dough and break it into small pieces.
- Carefully press the pieces of vanilla dough around the frozen rainbow heart roll, covering the entire outside. Work gently so you don’t distort the heart shape inside.
- Roll the dough carefully into a smooth cylinder, making sure the vanilla dough is evenly distributed around the rainbow heart centre.
- Refrigerate the completed cookie dough roll for 1 hour.
- Brush the outside of the chilled dough roll with a thin layer of the remaining egg wash made with 1 large egg white and 1 tsp water.
- Roll the dough in the sprinkles, gently pressing them into the surface so they stick.
- Slice the dough into cookies, keeping the slices as even as you can. If the dough starts to soften, pop it back into the refrigerator for a few minutes before continuing.
- Arrange the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving a little room between them. Refrigerate the sliced cookies for 30 minutes. This helps prevent the detailed heart shape from spreading too much in the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 335⁰F (170⁰C).
- Bake the chilled cookies for 10 to 11 minutes, or until the edges are just lightly browned. Keep an eye on them because you want the rainbow colours to stay bright.
- Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Prepared, tried, and tested by Vashnee
Total time: About 5 hours, including chilling, setting, and freezing time, and 10 minutes per batch
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The outside is covered in sprinkles, but the real surprise is waiting inside.
Rainbow Heart Sprinkle Cookies turn buttery vanilla dough into a colourful Valentine surprise with a heart-shaped rainbow centre hidden inside. The bright layers, sprinkle-covered exterior, and satisfying reveal make these cookies a fun baking project that’s as enjoyable to make as they are to eat. They’re perfect for anyone who wants to bring something playful, colourful, and genuinely memorable to the dessert table.
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These re very pretty and very clever!
Thank you, Michele, yes they are very pretty and I am sure all with love it.
These look really lovely, thanks for sharing. I don’t really bake but looking at these biscuits I am tempted! I have just started a poetry blog here on Wordpress in case you have time to look? Have a good afternoon, Sam 🙂
What cute and cheery cookies! I love them 😀
Thanks for this compliment, I will update Vashnee and let her know.
Thank you so much. 😘
Thanks Vashnee for responding to Starr
How cute!
Thanks for following my blog-I am looking forward to yours as well:)
Just love it – Happy Blogging