Ready to surprise your loved ones with these festive Heart-Shaped Peanut Butter Cookies? Whether you're baking them to celebrate Valentine's Day or as a way to let someone know you care, you can't go wrong with this easy recipe and heart-shaping tutorial. These cookies will have everyone swooning for more.
This idea of transforming a traditional peanut butter cookie into a heart is one of the easiest Pinterest hacks I've seen in a long time. I wanna give a huge shout-out to The Semisweet Sisters for this clever idea. Using the peanut butter kiss cookie recipe from my website here, I recreated these melt-your-heart cookies with gluten and dairy free ingredients that keep their shape after baked.
I love simple recipes-- they're the best! And this recipe is definitely simple-- there's no need to purchase a cookie cutter or fancy ingredients. You probably have the ingredients already in your panty. That makes this recipe an easy must and a new Valentine's Day tradition.
heart-shaped peanut butter cookie recipe tips
- peanut butter cookie dough recipe-- use the recipe found here on my website. This dough will yield 26 large heart-shaped cookies as shown. I do prefer my traditional peanut butter cookies to be a bit crisper on the edges so I allow them to bake an additional minute. This cookie dough is so easy to work with and can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days before baking.
- old-fashioned creamy peanut butter-- I recommend baking with traditional peanut butter brands in this recipe versus healthy brands which tend to have more oil. Crunchy peanut butter can be easily substituted for creamy peanut butter in this recipe.
- large fork-- if you're baking large heart-shaped cookies I recommend using a large fork with long prongs, for smaller cookies a smaller-pronged fork
- store cookies in an airtight container up to a week at room temperature
- optional-- another idea is to dip one side of the baked heart-shaped cookie into melted dairy free chocolate and top with festive white, pink, and heart-shaped sprinkles like these
Prepare peanut butter cookie dough according to the recipe here. After the mixture has refrigerated for 15-20 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 F and transfer dough bowl to the countertop. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Then place ¼ cup of granulated sugar in shallow bowl. Take dough by a small handful and roll into a ball.
Line the baking sheet with peanut butter balls. Then with a flat glass dip the bottom into the sugar and place onto cookie ball. Gently flatten cookie as shown. Dip bottom of glass into the sugar before flattening each cookie.
Using the dull end of a fork or knife handle, form the top of the cookie into a heart by gently moving the dough outward to the right and left. You will make a "V" shape.
Next using your thumb and index finger apply slight pressure to the bottom of the cookie dough and draw it down and in to make a tip, or the bottom of the "V" shape. Cookies might need a subtle touch-up on the sides to perfect this shape. This dough is easy to work with and mold in the shape you want.
Then using a large, long-pronged fork press the dough down on each side of the heart to make a crisscross pattern.
Don't these cookies look absolutely delectable-- as in who just wants to dig in? Bake these cookies for 10 minutes-- just until the outside edges have a slight golden brown color. Remove from the oven. Cookies will continue to bake on the baking sheet, after a minute transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
more Valentine's recipes you'll love
- double chocolate donuts with Valentine's sprinkles-- start the day off with these heart-warming fudgy donuts with ganache frosting and fun sprinkles no one will forget
- soft sugar cookies with pink buttercream frosting-- this is my go-to sugar cookie recipe because the cookies are so, so soft and delicious
- diy chocolate kisses-- did you know you can make your own Hershey chocolate kisses? This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens. Wrap each kiss in foil and add a personal message to the tag. You gotta check these out.
lastly
These heart-shaped peanut butter cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. You might just consider baking a double batch right away. Everyone will have a hard time keeping their hands off these.
For more gluten and dairy recipes, check out my website here. You'll find a recipe for every occasion.
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Eat well and feel well,
Jill
Heart-Shaped Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- peanut butter cookie dough, recipe link in the post
- optional-- melted dairy free chocolate to dip half of cooled cookies in topped with festive sprinkles
Instructions
- Line the baking sheet with peanut butter balls. Prepare peanut butter cookie dough according to the recipe link above. After the mixture has refrigerated for 15-20 minutes, preheat the oven to 350° F and transfer dough bowl to the countertop. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Then place ¼ cup of granulated sugar in shallow bowl.
- Take dough by a small handful and roll into a ball. Then with a flat glass dip the bottom into the sugar and place onto cookie ball. Gently flatten cookie. Re-dip the bottom of glass into the sugar before flattening each cookie.
- Using the dull end of a fork or knife handle, form the top of the cookie into a heart by gently moving the dough outward to the right and left. This will form a "V" shape.
- Next using your thumb and index finger apply slight pressure to the bottom of the cookie dough and draw it down and in to make a tip, or the bottom of the "V" shape. Cookies might need a subtle touch-up on the sides to perfect this shape.
- Then using a large, long-pronged fork press the dough down on each side of the heart to make a crisscross pattern.
- Bake these cookies for 10 minutes-- just until the outside edges have a slight golden brown color. Remove from the oven. Cookies will continue to bake on the baking sheet so after a minute transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Nutritional Disclaimer
These Nutritional Facts are ESTIMATED. Your actual nutritional info with this recipe may vary depending on the brands you choose. “Eating Gluten and Dairy Free” is not a registered dietician or nutritionist. The provided nutritional info above is based on a generic calculator, if you want more accurate info, use your nutritional calculator of choice where you can choose brands and get more info that way.