Tutorial: Valentine Sugar Cookie Pops!

There’s something about putting food on a stick that makes it fun, whimsical, and just all around cooler than food not-on-a-stick, right? Sugar cookies are a Valentine’s Day staple, and this is such a fun way to take something ordinary and make it totally rock. I can’t even tell you how much fun I had making these.
This is a great idea to give away to anyone special. Teachers, friends, kids, co-workers, your favorite food bloggers… 😉

You’ll Need:
– Sugar cookie dough

– lolly pop sticks:
You can find these at craft and cooking stores. They also sell them in the Wilton section at Walmart. They come in assorted sizes. See my commentary below on size options.

– Glacé Icing
(or royal icing if your that type of person) I think Wilton even makes an icing in a tube- I saw some at Walmart the other day. You could try a product like that if you’re not up to all the work of using glacé/royal icing, that would make this project SUPER easy. Just make sure it’s the type that will dry hard.

– Assorted wrapping/packaging stuff as in the picture below:
Containers, floral foam, ribbon, cellophane bags, shredded paper- all will be discussed as we go.

First thing, bake those cookies. Normally I like my sugar cookies super soft, but since these needed to stay on sticks I let them get a little more done. And guess what? I found out that I LOVE this recipe a little crunchy! Who knew. So great, so buttery and almondy, so yummy. I think I may bake half soft and half crunchy from now on!

Rolling out the dough: Roll out sugar cookie dough as normal. You’ll want it slightly thick so that it will adhere to the stick, but not so thick that it will be so heavy that the heart falls off. I made mine about 1/4″ and they were perfect. Cut out shapes and lay the dough directly on top of a stick. The stick should come about half way up the cookie. Gently press down with your fingers just a tad. The baking will do the rest.

Baking: Bake until edges are just barely golden brown and remove from oven. Cool completely.

Stick Size: I noted that these come in several sizes. All I had on hand was the lolly-pop size, 6inches. They worked great, but when I do it again I’ll get longer sticks because they’ll give me more room to stuff into containers. However if you’re just going to wrap the cookies and give them away, a short stick is fine. Or if you’re doing little cookies, little sticks are perfect. Just think about how your finished product will be packaged before you pick a size. They also make “Cookie Sticks” that are quite a bit larger and would work for a giant cookie, how fun!

Great Tip: Now here’s a trick I discovered. With royal or glacé icing, it’s sometimes a long process because of the drying time involved. Some people bake one day, ice the next, and by the 3rd day they’re dry and ready to package. Well as soon as my cookies were out of the oven and cooled, I put them in an airtight container in the freezer. Then when I was ready to decorate the next day I took them out in the morning and starting icing them right away (while they were still frozen.) By a few hours later the cookies were defrosted and the icing was dry enough to package- and the cookies were super fresh.

Icing: I made one batch of Glacé Icing and it was plenty for one batch of sugar cookies. I divided my icing (remember, at first it’s in glazing consistancy) in half. I took one half and divided it into 3 bowls. I left one white, did one pink, and one red. That’s for the glazing. I took the other half and added more powdered sugar to make it suitable for piping. I then divided that in 3 and colored them white, pink, and red as well. I used disposable plastic piping bags. So now I have piping icing and glazing icing in all 3 colors. I used Wilton “No Taste Red” gel color (available at cooking and craft stores, also Walmart). It took just a smidge for the pink, and not a whole lot more for that brilliant red.

Doesn’t it just make you happy to look at Valentines colors? I’m feelin’ the love.

Now the fun begins! (Check out the tutorial on Glacé Icing for step by step instructions on how to use the icing.) These were just a few extras I had that weren’t on sticks. I wish I had more time to play around with Valentine designs. I’m not a pro-decorator by any means, so I was happy with my simple designs! Try dabbing on different colors and swirling the color around using a toothpick.

I think of all the cookies I did, these little mini hearts below are my favorite. They’re only about an inch and a half wide and they looked so cute on those little sticks. You could write someone’s name out, put on a little phrase, or just do plain hearts. These are perfect for little fingers. (Or big fingers, since you can justify eating more of them 🙂

Don’t laugh at my writing. Like how I almost forgot the “S” in Hot Stuff or combined the O and the V into one letter in “love”. Like I said, I’m not very good at piping, and it really doesn’t matter once they’re all prettied up!

Combine different sizes for a fun look.

Packaging: Leave the pops plain, or wrap in cellophane. I popped the cookies in cellophane treat bags (you get 50-100 bags for just a couple of bucks) and tied ribbon around the stick. Easy breazy and oh so cute! Perfect for handing out at the office, or to friends or neighbors. Do they even let you give out home made treats at school? Probably not. It’s too bad because all the other kids in your child’s class would think you were the bomb.

Or make a totally rad bouquet of cookie pops. Yup, I said totally rad. You just need a cute container- be creative! A vase, a cool mug, a cardboard box decorated with paper and embellishments, anything really. I got these little heart boxes, and the pink pails in the dollar section at Target. Cuz you know how much I love the dollar section at Target!

Method: Cut floral foam or styrofoam to fit inside your container. Cover the top with something like the shredded paper in my pictures. Then just pop those cookies in! This is when I said it would be helpful to have long sticks on your cookies. They’ll be much more secure. I didn’t have much room to press mine down. Be gentle while pushing them in so you don’t break the cookie off the stick.

And these little pails are the perfect size for a few medium-sized cookies. I gave one to my husband and one to my son since they were so patient and watched me decorate cookies all day and didn’t have any! And then I took one to another friend.

That’s it folks. So fun! I hope you guys try these, they’re a blast to play around with and did I mention how cute the finished product is? SO cute! So start planning some Valentine’s surprises!

Related Recipes:
Sugar Cookies
Glacé Icing