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With a colorful heart suprise in the middle, these slice and bake rainbow heart cookies make perfect rainbow desserts for Pride month, or any month at all.
What Inspired These Slice and Bake Rainbow Heart Cookies?
I always love being in New York City during Pride Month. It’s such a fun, vibrant, and uplifting time to be in the city. And the celebrations always overlap with Broadway Bares, a charity event benefiting Broadway Cares to which I’ve donated my time to for more than a decade, designing costumes for hundreds of scantily clad dancers from Broadway and beyond.
Now that I’m living in London, I definitely miss my Bares family, especially as the past few celebrations were scaled back or cancelled due to the pandemic. But at least London has its own Pride celebrations and rainbow-themed decorations!
Featuring a rainbow heart surprise in the center, these classic ‘slice and bake’ style sugar cookies provide a colorful addition to any Pride month party or celebration, but they’re equally fun to make during the other months, too. The way I see it, it’s always a good time to celebrate love. And besides, who doesn’t love a rainbow cookie, any day of the year?
Tools for Making Rainbow Heart Cookies
You’ll need a few special tools and ingredients to make these slice and bake cookies. I suggest gathering the following:
- Chef’s knife – Use a very sharp knife when slicing your cookie log. A dull knife will produce ragged-looking cookies with misshapen hearts.
- Heart cutter – You’ll need a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the rainbow hearts. You can choose any size heart cutter you’d like, but remember that the bigger the cutter, the bigger your cookies will be. On the flip side, a tiny cutter will provide less definition and your hearts might end up looking more like circles or blobs. So, somewhere in the middle (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches) is best.
- Rolling pin – To roll the mosaic of rainbow dough between sheets of parchment.
- Gel food coloring – A must for this recipe! You’ll need red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. And be sure to opt for gel colors (Chefmaster is my go-to brand), not water-based grocery store food coloring.
Rainbow Heart Cookie Tips and Tricks
Though tempting, do not skip any of the chilling steps in this recipe! In fact, if at any point your dough feels warm or soft, return it to the fridge or freezer to chill for a few minutes. Keeping the dough firm is the key to retaining the pretty heart shape.
I chose to make rainbow hearts for Pride month, but you can use this same technique with any cutter and any color(s) of dough. The possibilities are endless. (Green shamrocks for Saint Patrick’s Day, pumpkins for Halloween, Santa hats for Christmas, you name it.) For recipe inspiration, see my slice and bake lemon daisy cookies!
When rolling the dough log in sprinkles, you might find it helpful to lightly spritz the log with water or cooking spray to help the rainbow sprinkles stick to the dough.
Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions
To work ahead, you can prepare the dough log, wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap, and refrigerate it overnight. I suggest popping the chilled log into the freezer for 30 minutes prior to slicing, to ensure a clean cut.
Layer baked rainbow heart cookies between sheets of parchment and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
These rainbow heart cookies also freeze very well. To freeze, layer between sheets of parchment and freeze in an airtight container, then thaw at room temperature when ready to serve.
Other rainbow recipes you might enjoy:
Funfetti Slice and Bake Shortbread
Rainbow Checkerboard Cookies
Donkey Piñata Cookies
Rainbow Whoopie Pies
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
Slice and Bake Rainbow Heart Cookies
- Total Time: 3-4 hours (including chilling time)
- Yield: 24 3-inch round cookies 1x
Description
Slice and bake rainbow heart cookies. A classic ‘slice and bake’ sugar cookie, with a fun rainbow heart suprise in the middle!
Ingredients
415 grams flour (3 1/4 cups)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
225 grams unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
225 grams granulated sugar (1 cup + 1 tablespoon)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Gel food coloring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
Rainbow sprinkles or rainbow nonpareils, for coating the log
Instructions
Line a half-sheet rimmed baking tray with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.
In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and granulated sugar and mix on high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, followed by the vanilla bean paste.
Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.
Divide the dough into three equal portions. Wrap two of the portions in clingfilm/plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill.
Divide the third portion into six smaller balls. Add a few drops of gel food coloring to each, creating red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple doughs.
With a sharp chef’s knife, chop all of the colored doughs into small pieces. (If desired, you can also use your hands to break the dough apart.) You can make the pieces as large or as small as you’d like, and don’t worry if they’re all a little bit different—that’s fine!
On a sheet of baking parchment, arrange the rainbow dough pieces to create a mosaic pattern. Use your fingers to push the pieces together, making sure there are no gaps or holes in the dough. Top with a second sheet of baking parchment, then use a rolling pin to roll the rainbow dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
Lifting by the edges of the parchment, gently transfer the rolled dough to a tray and refrigerate for at least one hour, or until firm.
Once chilled, peel away the top layer of parchment. Use a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter to cut the rainbow dough. Stack the hearts on top of one another, then place the stack in the freezer for at least 15 minutes, or until very firm.*
While stacks freeze, remove the remaining two portions of white dough from the refrigerator and allow it to soften slightly.
Remove the stack of heart-shaped dough from the freezer. Wedge bits of white dough into the crevasses of the heart shape.
Wrap the remaining dough around the stack to form a log. Roll the log in rainbow sprinkles or rainbow nonpareils.**
Wrap the log in clingfilm/plastic wrap and freeze, at least one hour or until firm.
Once firm, use a sharp chef’s knife to slice the log into 1/4-inch thick cookies. Transfer to prepared tray. Return tray to the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes. (Alternately, you can layer the slices between squares of parchment and freeze the stacks, if your trays do not fit in the freezer.) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325° F / 163° C.
Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until just lightly brown. Allow cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store slice and bake rainbow heart cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
Notes
*If at any point the rainbow dough becomes too soft, return it to the fridge or freezer to chill for a few minutes. Keeping the dough firm is the key to retain the pretty heart shape.
**If necessary, you can lightly spritz the log with cooking spray to help the sprinkles stick to the dough.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Chilling/Freezing Time: 2-3 hours
- Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
- Category: Biscuits and Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
I enjoyed making these. Would definitely make again. I used a star center vs heart. Thanks for sharing. Wish I could share a pic.
So glad you enjoyed making these! If you have Instagram, feel free to post a photo and tag me @bastecutfold — I’d love to see how they turned out!