These striped sugar cookies might just be the sweetest Valentine’s Day treat. Not only are they absolutely delicious, they’re so pretty and eye-catching. They are sure to be the talk of any Valentine’s Day bake sale or gathering.

One note: These cookies are pretty darn easy to make but have a lot of steps to ensure the colorful stripes come out perfectly. What they lack in time-saving they absolutely make up for in whimsy!

Keep reading for step-by-step directions and my best tips to make these striped sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day – or any day!

How Do You Make Striped Cookies?

To make striped sugar cookies, color portions of sugar cookie dough with gel food coloring, layer the dough into a stack, chill, and slice into strips before cutting out shapes and baking. You can adjust the pattern by stacking, rolling, or arranging the colors as desired. Sounds complicated? It really isn’t!

Ingredients for Valentine’s Striped Cookies

The ingredients for these heart sugar cookies are incredibly simple. You probably already have these items in your pantry and fridge!

• Butter
• Granulated Sugar
• Egg
• Vanilla Extract
• All-Purpose Flour
• Salt
• Gel Food Coloring

Can I use something other than gel food coloring?

While there are other options for food coloring out there, such as liquid food coloring or powdered food coloring, I recommend sticking with the gel kind for coloring cookie dough. Gel food coloring is more potent than liquid coloring. You’d have to use a lot of liquid coloring to dye your dough and it could mess with the consistency of your dough.

How to Make Striped Sugar Cookies

There’s no denying that these striped cookies aren’t the cutest Valentine’s Day cookies around. And they don’t have to be complicated, either! Honestly, I think creating the striped dough is really fun!

Use the steps below to make and bake these cookies in your kitchen:

Make the Dough

The first step to making striped sugar cookies is, of course, the dough. These use a basic sugar cookie recipe. Simply beat together the butter and sugar until it is soft and lighter in color before adding in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients last, mixing until it’s all combined.

Coloring Sugar Cookie Dough

Once you’ve made your dough, divide it into three even amounts. Add a couple of drops of gel food coloring to each piece of dough and mix in your stand mixer with a paddle attachment. 

I recommend starting with the lightest color so you don’t have to worry about washing your mixing bowl and paddle in between each color.

How to Make the Stripes

Roll out each piece of cookie dough into large rectangles. Try to make them all the same size and shape and about ¼-inch thick. You’ll stack the dough rectangles on top of each other to make the multi-colored stripes.

Lightly wet the top of one piece of dough and then place another piece on top. Wet the top of this second piece and then top with the final piece. Wrap the stacked dough in plastic wrap, place it on a cookie sheet and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Once it is chilled, trim the sides to make a perfect rectangle. Psst – Save the dough scrapes! 

Cut the dough across the shorter side into thin strips about 1cm (about ¼ inch) thick. I like to use a ruler to make sure the stripes are straight. You’ve now created strips of dough with three colored stripes.

Lay the first stripe flat (so all three colors are showing) at the top of a parchment-lined baking sheet. Take the next stripe of dough, wet the top with water and then lay it flat and press so the top meets the first stripe of dough. 

Repeat this process until all of the strips have been combined into one big slab of striped cookie dough. 

Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and chill it again for about 30 minutes to ensure the stripes stay together.

Shaping and Cutting Cutout Cookies

Once the dough has chilled, remove the parchment and dough from the cookie sheet and roll across the top in the direction of the stripes to even out the top of the dough. You might need the dough to warm up a bit to do this. If that’s the case, re-chill the dough before cutting out shapes.

When you’re ready to cut, simply use your favorite cookie cutters. Because I was making these as Valentine’s Day cookies, I used heart-shaped cookie cutters and some other fun Valentine’s shapes.

Transfer the cut-out cookies to a parchment-lined cookie sheet. If you’re having trouble removing the shapes from the pieces of dough, use an offset metal spatula.

Bake these at 350F/175C for 12-14 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Let them cool before adding any decorations.

Using Extra Striped Cookie Dough

I never want to let good sugar cookie dough go to waste! You have a few options to make the most of your striped sugar cookie dough.

• Use mini cookie cutters. Try using a mini heart or circle cookie cutter to cut some additional shapes out of any excess dough.
• Bring scraps together and re-roll. This method will create a marbled effect instead of stripes but will still look really pretty (and of course taste great!).
• Roll up scraps. You can also roll any scraps into a log and then slice and bake. These will also have a more marbled look.

Bonus Tips for Making Striped Sugar Cookies

• This recipe can easily be doubled, so they’re great for a party or sharing with friends!
• If the layers of dough come apart, use a little water to glue them back together – this usually happens with the edges. When wetting the side of the cookie dough, make sure to apply water across the whole surface.
• The cookies will not spread. So the width you cut the dough will be close to the final width of the dough – don’t cut the stripes too thick.
• If the dough gets warm at all, place it in the fridge. The same goes for the cut-out shapes.

Valentine’s Day Cookies Decorating Ideas

These striped sugar cookies are already gorgeous, but you can make them even more special with these decorating ideas! 

• Use sanding sugar. Try adding sanding sugar to alternating strips of dough. Simply sprinkle sugar on top and then lightly press into the dough before putting all the strips together. You could also add sanding sugar to the entire dough slab.
• Sandwich frosting in between. While you wouldn’t want to frost over the gorgeous stripes, these would make wonderful sandwich cookies with frosting in between!
• Switch up the colors. These cookies are really versatile. You could make them for any holiday or occasion you want by changing the food coloring you use. I would suggest using bold colors so they stand out.

Storing Striped Sugar Cookies

Store sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week (as if they could last that long!). For longer storage, freeze them in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.

Make Your Own Valentine’s Day Striped Cookies

Ready to make these in your kitchen? Follow along with the full recipe below! And be sure to tag me in any photos of your baking creations @mollyjwilk on Instagram and TikTok.