These Heart Shaped Cookies have the perfect amount of natural sweetener and they are topped with a maple cream cheese frosting. Add red sprinkles and your kids or sweetheart will love them. These aren’t your typical high sugar cookie from a bakery or grocery store. They are soft in the center and a light crunch on the edges.
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Ingredients
Cookies
Grass-Fed Butter
Cream Cheese, Full Fat
Coconut Sugar
Eggs
Vanilla Extract
Fresh Milled Soft White Wheat Flour (other flours can be used as well – see note below)
Baking Powder
Cream of Tarter
Salt
Frosting
Cream Cheese
Maple Syrup
Heavy Cream
Sprinkles, optional
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Directions
Heart Shaped Cutout Cookies
- Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix until creamy.
- Add the egg, yolk and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
- Now, add the baking powder, cream of tarter and salt. Mix on low until combined.
- Lastly, add the flour gradually. Start slow on the mixer and just add a cup or so at a time. Mix it all together until there are no clumps.
- Take the dough and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Using your hands, work the dough and flatten it out. The baked cookies will be at 1/4 inch thick so don’t flatten the dough out any more than that thickness. I like to go between 1/2-1 inch thick (you’ll be rolling it out when you get ready to bake the cookies). Place another piece of parchment on top of the dough. Set this on a cookie sheet in the fridge. It can go from 1 hour to the next day. I find with fresh milled flour, the dough likes to go a little longer in the fridge.
- Next, take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out onto a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Start using your cookie cutters. Have fun using small and large heart shaped cookie cutters. Roll your scraps back out. Those are great for smaller cookie cutters.
- Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes. They should be a light golden brown. Just watch them so they don’t burn.
- Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and maple syrup together until nice and creamy. Add the vanilla and heavy cream. Continue mixing until everything is fluffy. Frost your cookies and add sprinkles, if you like.
Tips
- If you plan to use all-purpose flour, back the flour down to 3 1/2 cups.
- As all the ingredients are mixing, take your spatula and push the dough down into the bowl.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely prior to frosting.
- The cream cheese frosting fits nicely in a cake decorator if you want to use different tips for extra prettiness.
- This dough recipe makes 60 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutter you are using. If you divide the dough into four sections, you’ll get roughly 15 cookies from each piece. This gives you more control on the quantity of cookies you need. Make a few cookies and freeze the rest of the dough, like I did for later use.
Pin For Later
See my full disclosure here.
Do These Cookies Freeze Well?
Yes, here is what I like to do..
- Option #1 – Roll out the dough into four sections. You can freeze one or two of these. To make it simpler for when you want to take the dough out of the freezer, roll it to a 1/2-1 inch thickness, laying flat like in a rectangle shape. Pop it in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer. It will stay fresh for 2-3 months. This cookie dough I am using is from a batch I made during Christmas last year.
- Option #2 – Roll out your dough and cut your cookies. Bake as per the directions. Allow to cool. Place the baked cookies in a ziplock bag. Just pull them out when you are ready to frost them. The cookies already frosted will not freeze well, so just place them plain in the freezer.
Why Use Fresh-Milled Flour?
Whole Grain Benefits
- Whole grains offer a “complete package” of health benefits, unlike refined grains, which are stripped of valuable nutrients in the refining process.
- As stated above, all whole grain kernels contain three parts: the bran, germ, and endosperm. Each section houses health-promoting nutrients. The bran is the fiber-rich outer layer that supplies B vitamins, iron, copper, zine, magnesium, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are natural chemical compounds in plants that have been researched for their role in disease prevention.
The germ is the core of the seed where growth occurs; it is rich in healthy fats, vitamin E, B vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The endosperm is the interior layer that holds carbohydrates, protein, and small amounts of some B vitamins and minerals.
These components have various effects on our bodies:
- Bran and fiber slow the breakdown of starch into glucose-thus maintaining a steady blood sugar rather than causing sharp spikes.
- Fiber helps lower cholesterol as well as move waste through the digestive tract.
- Fiber may also help prevent the formation of small blood clots that can trigger heart attacks or strokes.
- Phytochemicals and essential minerals such as magnesium, selenium and copper found in whole grains may protect against some cancers.
The Essentials to Grinding Your Own Flour
Beginner’s Guide: Milling Your Own Flour
Here is all you need to learn to start making delicious and nutritious baked goods and breads using fresh-milled flour.
Items Used in This Recipe
Red Sprinkles
Wheat-Berries and Fresh-Milled Flour
Resources
www.wholegrainscouncil.org
Tian W, Zheng Y, Wang W, Wang D, Tilley M, Zhang G, He Z, Li Y. A comprehensive review of wheat phytochemicals: From farm to fork and beyond. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2022 May;21(3):2274-2308. doi: 10.1111/1541-4337.12960. Epub 2022 Apr 19. PMID: 35438252.
Cheng W, Sun Y, Fan M, Li Y, Wang L, Qian H. Wheat bran, as the resource of dietary fiber: a review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022;62(26):7269-7281. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1913399. Epub 2021 May 3. PMID: 33938774.
Kublicki M, Koszelewski D, Brodzka A, Ostaszewski R. Wheat germ lipase: isolation, purification and applications. Crit Rev Biotechnol. 2022 Mar;42(2):184-200. doi: 10.1080/07388551.2021.1939259. Epub 2021 Jul 15. PMID: 34266327.
Heart Shaped Cookies with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Method
- Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix until creamy.
- Add the egg, yolk and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
- Now, add the baking powder, cream of tarter and salt. Mix on low until combined.
- Lastly, add the flour gradually. Start slow on the mixer and just add a cup or so at a time. Mix it all together until there are no clumps.
- Take the dough and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Using your hands, work the dough and flatten it out. The baked cookies will be at 1/4 inch thick so don't flatten the dough any more than that thickness. I like to go between 1/2-1 inch thick. Place another piece of parchment on top of the dough. Set this on a cookie sheet in the fridge. It can go from 1 hour to the next day. I find with fresh milled flour, the dough likes to go a little longer in the fridge.
- Next, take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out onto a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Start using your heart shaped cookie cutters. Have fun using small and large ones. Roll your scraps back out. Those are great for smaller cookie cutters.
- Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes. They should be a light golden brown. Just watch them so they don't burn.
- Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes.
- Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese and maple syrup together until nice and creamy. Add the vanilla and heavy cream. Continue mixing until everything is fluffy. Frost your cinnamon rolls even while they are still warm.
Notes
- If you plan to use all-purpose flour, back the flour down to 3 1/2 cups.
- As all the ingredients are mixing, take your spatula and push the dough down into the bowl.
- If your powdered sugar has lumps in the bag it came in, sift it out using a flour sifter prior to adding the bowl.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely prior to frosting.
- The cream cheese frosting fits nicely in a cake decorator if you want to use different tips for extra prettiness.
- This dough recipe makes 60 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutter you are using. If you divide the dough into four sections, you’ll get roughly 15 cookies from each piece. This gives you more control on the quantity of cookies you need. Make a few cookies and freeze the rest of the dough, like I did for later use.
I hope you enjoy making this recipe and that it will benefit you and your family all year long. Please share this post over on Pinterest and tag me over on Instagram. I’d love to see how you make yours.
Wendy Lea Walker, NTP
Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
I’m Wendy. A wife, empty-nester mama, homemaker, homebaker, gardener and small-time farmer. I love sharing wisdom and mistakes I’ve learned along the way. Anyone can garden or homestead, no matter where you live. It’s a mindset. You just have to start somewhere. I believe food is medicine. Feed the body real whole foods and healing will begin. I’ve learned to slow down over the years from all the noise that came with life and enjoy creating a simple home.
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