There is just nothing that can beat a classic cookie recipe. These heart shaped chocolate chip cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day or for any time you want to dress up the traditional cookie. Although I used to make and sell sugar cookies with royal icing, there's something nostalgic about a homemade chocolate chip cookie that I'll always love. This is my grandma's recipe with a few minor tweaks, I love the nostalgia of a family recipe.
These heart-shaped cookies can be made with a store-bought mix, just like our funfetti cake mix cookies, but I've shared my family recipe below. It's easy to make for a crowd and makes a great drop cookie too. The main difference is that to help combat (not completely remove, but to fight) the spread of the cookies I flash freeze them after cutting their shapes. So grab your heart-shaped cookie cutter and let's do some baking for Valentine's Day!
More Valentine's Day treats to try
- Valentine's Charcuterie Board
- Valentine's Day Pancakes- With a Cake Mix!
- Pink Waffles
- Pink Hot Chocolate
Ingredients
- brown sugar
- sugar
- unsalted butter
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- chocolate chips
- sea salt (for baking and topping)
- m&m's (optional)
Directions
- Cream your butter and sugar in your mixing bowl.
- Add the egg and the remaining dry ingredients.
- Add your chocolate chips and m&m's last and allow to combine. The dough should begin to stick to the paddle as it's being rotated around in the mixing bowl.
- Roll out the dough. My preferred way to do this is by putting the dough on parchment paper, and then placing another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. This way you can rotate the dough around and roll out evenly.
- Cut out your cookies with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.
Baking the Cookies
After you have your heart shaped chocolate chip cookies cut out, move them to a parchment paper covered baking sheet and freeze for 10-12 minutes. This will help minimize the spread. These cookies will still spread quite a bit, as you can see from the before/after photos, but this step does help limit the expansion.
Pop them in the oven for 10-11 minutes, checking on them periodically. Baking time will vary depending on your oven and the humidity in your home.
Remove from the oven and, this is important, leave them on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. They will continue to bake on the pan and you don't want to remove them too quickly. If the shapes have completely 'blubbed' you can use a knife or spoon to push in the dough a bit while it's still hot.
Top with a pinch of sea salt for extra flavor. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool before decorating or sharing.
Tips
- If you'd prefer to make drop cookies, use ½ cup less flour.
- You can make this dough and chill it as well to get a bit firmer of a shape.
- Make sure you let your cookies finish baking on the actual sheet when you pull it out of the oven.
- This recipe is easily doubled to make a large batch of cookies.
- Add oats to your dough for a oatmeal chocolate chip cookie alternative.
📖 Recipe
Heart Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer or hand mixer
- 1 oven
- 1 baking sheet
- 1 mini spatula
- 1 heart shaped cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup brown sugar
- 1½ cup sugar
- 1¼ cup butter, unsalted
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 4½ cups flour if making drop cookies use 4 cups.
- 1½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon sea salt or regular salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup M&M's
Instructions
- Cream your butter and sugar in your mixing bowl.
- Add the egg and the remaining dry ingredients. Add your chocolate chips and m&m's last and allow to combine.
- The dough should begin to stick to the paddle as it's being rotated around in the mixing bowl. Roll out the dough. My preferred way to do this is by putting the dough on parchment paper, and then placing another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. This way you can rotate the dough around and roll out evenly.
- Cut out your cookies with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.
- After you have your heart shaped chocolate chip cookies cut out, move them to a parchment paper covered baking sheet and freeze for 10-12 minutes. This will help minimize the spread. These cookies will still spread quite a bit, as you can see from the before/after photos, but this step does help limit the expansion.
- Pop them in the oven for 10-11 minutes, checking on them periodically. Baking time will vary depending on your oven and the humidity in your home.
- Remove from the oven and, this is important, leave them on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. They will continue to bake on the pan and you don't want to remove them too quickly. If the shapes have completely 'blubbed' you can use a knife or spoon to push in the dough a bit while it's still hot.
- Top with a pinch of sea salt for extra flavor. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool before decorating or sharing.
Claire says
Love a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe- and the heart shapes turned out so cute!