Valentine’s Sugar Cookie Puns

If you like being cheesy, cute Valentine’s day gifts, and cookies, then these Valentine’s sugar cookie puns are the best of all worlds. Edible Valentine’s gifts are yummy and fun to make. This sugar cookie recipe makes a buttery soft cookie with slightly crisp edges, that’s not overly sweet and decorated in easy royal icing.

Let’s Prep Our Puns

I decided to go with two different puns, but you can choose one! My loved ones enjoy going to cafes and lots of chatting over coffee and tea, so I went with “I love you a latte.” Then I thought of, “I like you berry much” which was just as cute, so I made both!

You’ll need a few things in order to cut out and decorate these cute cookies!

1. Cookie cutters: Metal cookie cutters give great clean cuts, which I prefer when cutting out my cookies. I get a lot of my 3.5inch cutters from Ann Clark because the great quality. For this set I used a latte cutter and a strawberry. The mini strawberry was purchased awhile ago but this cutter is close, maybe .5inch larger. I bought my small hearts in a set that isn’t available anymore, but this set is very close.
2. Food gel dye: AmeriColor food gel dye is one of my favorite brands because its so vibrant! A little goes a long way. The colors I used for “I love you a latte” cookies are electric pink, soft pink, and black. “I like you berry much” set has electric pink, soft pink, lemon yellow, and mint green.
3. Piping bags: There are so many types of piping bags out there. For decorating sugar cookies I prefer smaller bags with a texture grip. If you fill up a piping bag with tons of icing, it can spill out! Tie the bag with the left over or use rubber-bands or a chip clip to prevent spilling.
4. Optional: I like to use a scribe tool to help pop air bubbles or help shape the royal icing. There is also added luster dust to some of the small heart cookies! If you want to add any glitter to your cookies, use a food safe brush!

Overview: Baking Sugar Cookies

The sugar cookies in this recipe are my soft cut-out sugar cookie recipe. 

1. Make sugar cookie dough. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg, vanilla extract and mix. Add the all-purpose flour and salt and mix until combined. Don’t over mix! The dough can be slightly kneaded on a flour surface but don’t over do it or that results in tough cookies.
2. Chill the dough. Wrapping the dough in plastic wrap in two pieces is easier to work with. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes but it can be chilled overnight! If chilling overnight, take out the dough 10 minutes before rolling or it’ll be too hard to work with.
3. Roll out the dough. The dough will be cold and a little difficult to roll. It might have cracks around the edges- that’s okay! Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness.
4. Cut into shapes. Cut out all your shapes and place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, about an inch apart from each other. Try to keep cookies of the same sizes on the small pans. The latte shaped cookies are much larger than the small hearts, so they need different baking times.
5. Bake! 3-3.5inch medium size cookies take about 8-10 minutes. Look for slightly golden bottoms. For cookies less than 3 inches, bake for 7-8 minutes. Cookies larger than 4 inch can bake for 10-11 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye out because they get golden pretty quickly.
6. Decorate! More royal icing info below ?

How to Make Royal Icing

To decorate the Valentine’s sugar cookie puns, we want to make royal icing thats pipe-able consistency. This consistency is great because it’s very versatile. You can use it to outline, fill, and for lettering details. For all the information you need on royal icing, check out my easy royal icing recipe with egg whites.

1. Make the royal icing. Attach a whisk attachment to your stand mixer. Add the liquid egg whites into the bowl and beat on low. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time to avoid a mess! Whisk on low in-between additions. My recipe doesn’t use vanilla extract. Trust me, it doesn’t need it when paired with my sugar cookie recipe. (But if you want to add it, add 1 tsp!)
2. Whip the frosting. Set the stand mixer to medium-high speed and let it whip for 5-8 minutes.
3. Tips to know when it’s ready. Remove the whisk attachment and turn it so the peaks are facing up. They should stand pretty straight with a slight curve. Or, take a knife and run a line through the center of the icing in the stand mixer bowl. Count how many seconds it takes for the surface to smooth over. Pipe-able consistency is between 15-18 seconds. 

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Check out these other decorating ideas!

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Dying Royal Icing

Time to get mixing! For this cookie set, the focus is on lighter/pastel colors. AmeriColor food gel dye is very vibrant, so just add tiny drops at a time or use a toothpick to add to the buttercream.

I Love You A Latte Colors

• Add 1 1/2 cup of icing to a piping bag. We don’t need to dye this icing because it’s already white.
• Mix 1 cup of icing with a small drop of soft pink and add to a piping bag.
• Mix 1/2 cup of icing with a tiny drop of electric pink and add to a piping bag.
• Mix 1/2 cup of icing with a drop of black and add to a piping bag.

If you’re making both of the puns, “I Love You A Latte” and “I Like You Berry Much”, there will be enough icing for the whole set. If you only want to make “I Like You Berry Much” cookies, use the instructions above plus make the yellow and the green with the directions below.

I Like You Berry Much Colors

• Mix 1 cup of icing with a small drop of soft pink and add to a piping bag.
• Mix 1/2 cup of icing with a tiny drop of electric pink and add to a piping bag.
• Mix 1/2 cup of icing with a tiny drop of electric green and add to a piping bag.
• Mix 1/2 cup of icing with a tiny drop of lemon yellow and add to a piping bag.

I Love You A Latte Sugar Cookies

Now let’s get to decorating these Valentine’s sugar cookie puns! ?

1. First, make sure that the cookies are completely cooled. Outline the latte shaped cookie with white icing and then fill in. Let the icing dry for about five minutes.

4. Use the soft pink royal icing to pipe a rectangle or the cupholder, and fill in.
5. Outline the lid with white icing and add a black oval shape.

5. To decorate the small heart cookies, outline the cookie with soft pink and fill in.

6. For the small heart cookies, outline in white icing and fill in.

7. Were going to use a simple technique to make a heart border. To do the wet on wet technique, add drops of electric pink icing while the icing is still wet. Then with a scribe tool, drag it through the center of all the dots. You can also pipe pink heart cookies for variety and add luster dust for some shine.

8. Outline the pink cupholder with electric pink.
9. Using the black icing, carefully pipe, I love you a latte. It’s okay if your handwriting is still a work in progress! Practice on a plate or paper towel before piping onto the cookie.
10. Pipe a dot of royal icing and glue a mini heart cookie for a 3D effect.

I Like You Berry Much Sugar Cookies

Another Valentine’s sugar cookie pun idea is this super cute, I like you berry much cookies. The berry I choose was a strawberry but you could make a raspberry or a blueberry!

1. With soft pink icing, create a border but don’t pipe onto the leaves. Then fill in with more icing and let dry for about five minutes.

2. With the green icing, pipe on the strawberry leaves. With the electric pink icing, write, “I like you berry much.” Then, use the yellow icing to pipe on the little seeds around the phrase. To make them look more seed like, drag the piping bag down and pull away.

3. To make cute little mini strawberries, repeat the same process as the large strawberries above.

How to Store/Gift Valentine’s Sugar Cookie Puns

Decorated cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. You can freeze decorated cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

Or give these as gifts – 3 different ways.

1. These cellophane bags come in multiple sizes. For cookies that are 4 inches or smaller, I purchase the 5×7 inch bags. Add one fully dried cookie into a cellophane bag and tie with ribbon. 
2. Self sealing bags are another great option that look professional like the single sold cookies at a bakery. ?
3. Cookie boxes are so cute and sturdy. They really take the cookie gifting to the next level. Add crinkle paper or parchment paper to the box and add cookies. Wrap with ribbon or add a bow for a final touch.

RECIPE CARD