Valentine’s is all about doing a little extra for someone you love, and this year, I decided to show it with cookies. These heart-shaped checkerboard Valentine’s cookies might look fancy, but they’re made with just 5 simple ingredients and a little patience. By the way, they’re nicely buttery and delicious too, so you can say they taste as great as they look!

To achieve this, the dough is split into vanilla and red portions and chileld to make it easier to handle and less sticky. Thereafter, it requries a bit of stacking, a gentle mental map of criss-crossing and suddenly, you have a charming heart-shaped checkerboard cookie.

The beauty of this recipe is its flexibility. You can shape the cookies however you like or to make the squares thicker to save some knife work! They don’t have to be perfect. In fact, I love how these turned out even with their little imperfections. Sometimes, love shows up in the effort more than the end result.

These cookies are nicely buttery, fragrant, festive and with surprisingly simple ingredients! Proving that you don’t need complicated ingredients to make something special for Valentine’s.

Enjoy baking, share them with someone you care about and happy Valentine’s!

By the way, for a more straightforward checkerboard cookies, consider this recipe too!

Checkerboard Valentine’s Cookies Recipe
by Javier Tan February-09-2026

Valentine’s is all about doing a little extra for someone you love, and these Checkerboard Valentine’s Cookies will be sure to show your love!

Ingredients (Vanilla Batter)

  • 1/2 Cup or 115g of Butter, Softened at Room Temp
  • 1/3 Cup + 1 Tspn or 45g of Icing Sugar
  • 1 Tsp or 5ml of Vanilla Essence
  • 1 and 1/3 Cup or 150g of Plain Flour

Ingredients (Red Batter)

  • 1/2 Cup or 115g of Butter, Softened at Room Temp
  • 1/3 Cup + 1 Tspn or 45g of Icing Sugar
  • 1 Tsp or 5ml of Vanilla Essence
  • 1 Tsp or 5ml Red Food Cololouring (adjust to preference)
  • 1 and 1/3 Cup or 150g of Plain Flour

Instructions

  1. Firstly, cream together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, approx 2 minutes.
  2. Then, whisk in the vanilla (and red food colouring for red batter).
  3. Fold in the flour until a dough is formed. Place and flatten between two sheets of parchment paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  4. Roll out to desired thickness and cut into uniform strips. Assemble the strips in alternate colours and ensure that it is stacked sufficiently for you to use a heart shaped / desired cookie cutter.
  5. Once sufficiently stacked, refrigerate for 10 more minutes before slicing and using the cookie cutter.
  6. Bake at 160C for 13 – 15 minutes until nicely golden on the edges.
  7. Serve and enjoy! Do let it cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Details

  • Prep time: 1 hour 40 mins
  • Cook time: 20 mins
  • Total time: 2 hours
  • Yield: Makes approx. 40 Checkerboard Valentine’s Cookies (I suggest making excess dough so that its easier to stack)

Notes:

  1. If you would like to be updated for more recipes which I strive to create to perfection for sharing and for free, do check out my Instagram, Facebook Page, or YouTube 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your support! Feel free to tag me or link back here!
  2. Stores well at room temperature for up to 3 weeks, best consumed within the first couple of weeks.
  3. Please do not copy and paste the recipe without my permission, but feel free to link back here!

Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan