Valentine Cookies

Rich and chocolatey Valentine Cookies with pink, red, and white M&M’s and chocolate chips. These small fudgey cookies make the perfect festive treat!

As a teenager, for years and years, my email address was this: chelsluvspink@yahoo.com. I can’t believe I’m sharing this here, but it is what it was. My siblings now make fun of me (relentlessly) for the email and the way I adored the color pink. I mean, clearly, since I identified my love for the color with an EMAIL ADDRESS.

Years since moving past that email address and truthfully, I can tell you that pink is not my favorite color anymore (It’s blue, if you were wondering), but I still do love pink. Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays and not for the typical reasons, but because I always loved (and still love) seeing the different shades of pink everywhere. And more than anything? I love the excuse to eat as much chocolate as possible. Delicious Valentine Cookies are combining two really great aspects of Valentine’s Day: lots of chocolate and all the shades of pink!

How to make Valentine Cookies

The descriptions below correlate with the photo collage above.

1. Cream together room temperature butter and sugars until creamy, light in color, and completely smooth.
2. Beat in the sour cream, eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract. These cookies will turn out best if all wet ingredients are at room temperature.
3. Here’s how all the wet ingredients creamed together look — smooth and creamy!
4. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl. 
5. Stir dry ingredients to mix evenly.
6. Add the chocolate chips and Valentine’s M&M®’s on top of the dry ingredients and whisk them together. This helps the chocolate chips & M&M’s get even dispersion throughout the cookies.
7. Add dry to wet and mix until just combined. The dough will be extremely thick and quite wet — these cookies have to chill before rolling into balls. 
8. Mixed dough ready to chill! Make sure to cover the dough tightly before chilling.

Cocoa powder

Cocoa powder: I would say this is the most important ingredient in these chocolate cookies. You want to make sure to use Dutch-process cocoa powder (as opposed to regular cocoa powder) in these cookies. Regular cocoa powder will make these cookies dry and less flavorful. Here’s the exact cocoa powder I use. Here is a great summary of what the differences are between cocoa powders.

Baking tips for Valentine Cookies

• Once the dough has chilled, it’s time to measure out cookie dough balls and bake them! I like to use a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon for accuracy in rolling the dough balls. You want similarly sized cookie dough balls so they bake evenly.
• If your dough gets warm from the rolling/shaping process, chill the dough balls (right on the pan) for 10 minutes before baking them. It’s important to have cold dough when the cookies go into the oven to bake.
• This is also a great time to decorate the tops a bit. I like pressing a few additional chocolate chips or M&M’s into the tops of the cookies. This not only makes Valentine Cookies prettier, but it also makes sure there is chocolate in every bite!

More Valentine’s fun:

• Easy Valentine’s Gifts {Free Printables}
• Easy Valentine’s Gifts Part 2 {Free Printables}
• Four Easy Valentine’s Day Treats
• The Best Crème Brûlée
• Nutella Crepes

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5 from 2 votes

Valentine Cookies

By Chelsea Lords

Rich and chocolaty Valentine Cookies with pink, red, and white M&M's and chocolate chips. These small fudgey cookies make the perfect festive treat!

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 43 minutes minutes

Servings: 45 small cookies

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• ▢ 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg at room temperature
• ▢ 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream at room temperature
• ▢ 1 small drop almond extract optional
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 and 3/4 cups white all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder see note 1
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips see note 2
• ▢ 1/2 cup Valentine's M&M's plus some extra for topping the cookies

Instructions 

• WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, cream the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy (the mixture should resemble peanut butter). Beat in egg, sour cream, almond extract, and vanilla extract.
• DRY INGREDIENTS: In a separate bowl combine the flour, unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add in chocolate chips and Valentine's M&M's. Stir to combine.
• COMBINE: Combine wet and dry and mix until just combined, being careful to not over-mix. Cover the dough and chill for at least 30 minutes and preferably 1 hour.
• ROLL BALLS: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a large tray with parchment paper or a Silpat liner. Use a tablespoon measuring spoon to measure exact cookie dough balls (each ball should be 1 tablespoon of dough; you should get around 45 cookies). Place on a prepared sheet pan; no more than 9 cookies per pan. Place the pan of cookies in the fridge for another 10 minutes.
• BAKE: Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes or until set (just until the top is no longer glossy; this is around 8 minutes for me). Be careful to not over-bake. A soft, very slightly underbaked cookie is the best for a delicious fudgy texture! Once the cookies come out of the oven, let them stand on cookie sheet for 5-7 minutes. If desired, press a few additional M&M's and/or chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies (makes them pretty). Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
• STORAGE: Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. Cookies are best enjoyed within 2 days.

Recipe Notes

Note 1:Cocoa powder:  Make sure to use Dutch-process cocoa powder in these cookies. Regular cocoa powder will make these cookies dry and less flavorful. Here’s the exact cocoa powder I use. 

Note 2: Chocolate chips: Regular chocolate chips can be used instead of miniature if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 45small cookies | Calories: 115kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 53mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 98IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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