Slice and Bake Rainbow Heart Cookies
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Last Updated on March 28, 2026 by becky
Featuring a colorful heart suprise in the middle, these slice and bake rainbow heart cookies are the perfect rainbow dessert 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.
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 at other times, 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?
Rainbow Heart Cookie Ingredients
To make these rainbow heart cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Flour – You’ll need 415 grams (about 3 1/4 cups) of all purpose flour, or plain flour in the UK.
- Baking Powder – Baking powder gives the cookies their lift.
- Kosher Salt – A small amount of kosher salt (or fine sea salt) cuts the sweetness of the sugar.
- Butter – Start with unsalted butter, and allow it to soften before mixing. Skip the kosher salt if using salted butter.
- Granulated Sugar – Granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture. If using caster sugar, I recommend measuring by weight rather than volume.
- Eggs – You’ll need two large eggs, at room temperature.
- Vanilla Bean Paste – I recommend using a good-quality vanilla bean paste from a brand like Nielsen-Massey or Taylor & Colledge. If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract will also work.
- Rainbow Nonpareils – You can coat your dough log in rainbow nonpareils or rainbow sprinkles, or skip the sprinkles for a more natural look.
- Gel Food Coloring – A must for this recipe! You’ll need red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, for tinting the dough that you’ll roll and cut into the heart-shaped centers. Opt for gel colors (Chefmaster is my go-to brand) rather than water-based.
How to Make Rainbow Heart Cookies
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. Clean the knife periodically, but keep it dry—a wet knife can cause the colors to run and smear.
- Heart Cutter – 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) works best.
- Rolling Pin – To roll the mosaic of rainbow dough between sheets of parchment.
Rainbow Heart Cookie Tips and Tricks
Though tempting, do not skip any of the chilling steps in this recipe! If at any point your dough starts to feel warm or soft, pop it back into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes. Keeping the dough firm is the key to retaining the pretty heart shape.
In contrast, if the dough feels too firm to slice following an overnight chill, allow the log to stand at room temperature for 3-5 minutes before slicing. A hot, dry knife can also make slicing easier.
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!
Before rolling the dough log in sprinkles, you might find it helpful to lightly spritz the log with 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. .
To store: Layer baked rainbow heart cookies between sheets of parchment or wax paper and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
To freeze: Layer between sheets of parchment or wax paper and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature when ready to serve.
Other rainbow recipes you might enjoy:
Funfetti Slice and Bake Shortbread
Rainbow Whoopie Pies
Funfetti Scones
Rainbow Buttercream Frosting
Rainbow Cake Roll
Rainbow Cookies
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!
Print
Slice and Bake Rainbow Heart Cookies
- Total Time4 hours
- Yield24-28 3-inch round cookies 1x
A classic ‘slice and bake’ sugar cookie, with a fun rainbow heart suprise in the middle!
Ingredients
415 grams all purpose flour (3 1/4 cups; 14 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
225 grams unsalted butter, softened (1 cup; 2 sticks)
225 grams granulated sugar (1 cup + 2 tablespoons; 8 ounces)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Gel food coloring
Rainbow sprinkles or rainbow nonpareils, for coating the log
Instructions
Line 2 half-sheet rimmed baking trays with parchment or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk all purpose flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.
In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip butter on high speed until creamy, about 30 seconds. Add the granulated sugar and mix on high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute more. Mix in the eggs, followed by the vanilla bean paste.
Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions and mix on low speed until just combined.
With a kitchen scale, divide the dough into 3 equal portions, about 300 grams each.
Wrap 2 portions in clingfilm/plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Divide the remaining portion into 6 smaller balls, about 50 grams each. Knead in gel food coloring to create red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple doughs.
With a sharp chef’s knife, chop all of the colored doughs into small pieces.*
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, transfer the rolled dough to a tray. Refrigerate 1 hour, or until firm.
Peel away the top layer of parchment. Use a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter to cut the rainbow dough.
Push scraps together, re-roll, and cut remaining hearts.
Stack the hearts on top of one another to form a log.** Freeze 30 minutes, or until very firm.
Meanwhile, remove remaining portions of white dough from the refrigerator to soften .
Break 1 portion of white dough into small chunks, and wedge into the crevasses, and around the outside of the frozen heart log.
Wrap with the remaining portion of white dough, forming a log about 6-7 inches long. Roll log on the countertop to smooth.
Roll in rainbow sprinkles or rainbow nonpareils.
Wrap log in clingfilm/plastic wrap and freeze until very firm, at least 1 hour, or overnight.
With a sharp chef’s knife, trim the rough ends of the frozen log, then cut into 1/4-inch thick slices.
Arrange slices on prepared trays. Freeze15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325° F / 165° C.
Bake, 1 tray at a time, in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until set and very lightly golden brown.
Cool 10 minutes on trays, then use a flat metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store slice and bake rainbow heart cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
*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! If you want to keep things simple, you can use your hands to break the dough into pieces instead.
**If at any point the rainbow dough begins to feel warm or soft, return it to the freezer for a few minutes. Keeping the dough cold and firm is the key to retaining the pretty heart shape.
To watch me demonstrate the entire process from start to finish, see the video in the post above.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Chilling Time: About 3 hours
- Cook Time: 13-15 minutes
- Category: Biscuits and Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Can’t wait to make these, but am confused about the 2 portions of dough – are we combining to wrap around one heart stack, or making 2 heart stacks? I must be missing something
Hi Debra! Yes, you’ll use one of the white dough portions to wedge into the crevasses around the heart stack, and the second white dough portion to wrap around the log.
For a visual reference, here is a similar cookie recipe (flowers instead of hearts, but same idea!) which has process photos showing how to form the log:
https://bastecutfold.com/sunny-lemon-daisy-cookies/
These came out so beautifully and were fun to make. Not only are they beautiful but super tasty as well! I made them for our little town’s Equal Rights For All Campaign kick-off we hosted with the ACLU. Your cookies were the hit of the party! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us!!
Thank you so much for this comment! I’m glad the cookies turned out nicely, and I’m so happy that they were able to play a small part in contributing to such a good cause.
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!