This easy recipe for Chocolate Heart Thumbprint Cookies will make anyone smile this Valentine's Day.
If you're looking for more Valentine's Day recipes, be sure to check out some of my other favorites like my Valentine's Day Cookie Skillet, Valentine's Peanut Butter Blossoms, or my Dark Chocolate Almond Hearts.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Valentine's Day is almost here! And my feed has been blowing up with pink, purple, and red all over! And if you know me, then you know I'm not super into decorating or being overly festive for holidays. But, I love Valentine's Day! I love that it's a holiday for absolutely no reason except to celebrate love. What is better than that?
I was looking for some organic Valentine's Day candy to buy for myself, and there's not a lot out there to be honest. But, I found these cute little chocolate hearts from Lake Champlain Chocolates. I bought all the flavors Amazon had Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate Raspberry. I thought these would be cute pushed into a thumbprint cookie!
My thumbprints have been super popular on the blog recently, so I wanted to give you guys a Valentine's Day thumbprint cookie recipe. These cookies are just as easy as my Raspberry Thumbprints, so if you've baked those already then you got this! If you can't find the organic chocolate hearts, another option would be to place a piece of milk or dark chocolate in the middle and sprinkle India Tree Heart Sprinkles right on top so they bake in as the chocolate melts in the oven. And we do have these sprinkles in the bake shop, so stop by if you need some!
Tips for Chocolate Heart Thumbprint Cookies
• Make sure your butter is soft. You should cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla before starting your timer. This means that you should mix these ingredients together until there are no chunks of butter. Then start the timer for and continue mixing.
• If you're using the Lake Champlain chocolate hearts, stick to dark chocolate hearts, not the milk chocolate. I originally tried this recipe with both, and the milk chocolate hearts burned in the oven. Milk chocolate can't be heated as high as dark chocolate, so this may have been why these hearts burned when I baked them. But, when chocolate burns it can get bubbly and weird looking and it doesn't taste good either! So stick with the dark chocolate.
• Make sure to refrigerate your cookie sheets. This helps the cookies hold their shape once baked. Thumbprints are a dense little cookie, so this is why refrigerating is an important step.
Why Organic
Why use organic ingredients in this recipe? You all know I’m a huge organic advocate, and I bet you may be thinking sometimes, Why would I even bother to use organic ingredients in something that is so sweet and indulgent? But, that is the exact reason why you should use organic ingredients! Sweet things need to have flavor in order to be good, otherwise they are just sweet and they don’t taste like much else. Organic ingredients are more pure than conventional ones, therefore they actually have more flavor than the non organic options. Say it with me, organic means more flavor! And not just more flavor but a more true and pure flavor. And organic ingredients are much healthier for you to eat in general as they do not contain GMOs or anything artificial. Plus, you are being environmentally friendly when you choose organic ingredients!
So, I highly recommend that you buy the best organic ingredients for this recipe! You can also shop my Amazon Storefront for all my favorite organic ingredients here. Tip – hover over each ingredient to see the name. And if you want to learn more about organic foods and the difference, read my post here on Food Labels and What They Mean.
This easy and festive Valentine's Day cookie recipe is one you can make with little effort. Buttery shortbread cookies are filled with chocolate hearts for a sweet and thoughtful Valentine.
Ingredients
1 cup (226 grams) organic salted butter, softened
170 grams (3/4 cup) organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1 organic large egg
383 grams (3 cups) organic all purpose flour
30 organic dark chocolate hearts
Directions
- Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted the the paddle attachment, add the butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined, then set a timer for 5 minutes and mix until the mixture is light in color and fluffy.
- Add the egg, and mix until combined. Add the flour, and mix on low until combined into a smooth dough.
- Using your hands, form the dough into 30 balls and place on the prepared cookie sheets. Press a chocolate heart into the center of each cookie. Refrigerate the cookie sheets for 25 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 19 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- Store in a cool dry place for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Gluten Free – Replace the organic flour with 397 grams (2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon) organic gluten free flour blend.
- High Altitude – Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom.
Did you make this recipe?
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