It’s hard to believe that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner already, right?!

Since there’s never a shortage of candy hearts and wrapped chocolates to go around on this holiday, I wanted to share a different sort of sweet gift idea with you today that’s easy, unique, and COOKIE based!

BIG Valentine Cookies

In a nutshell, these are simply good ol’ chocolate chunk and snickerdoodle cookies with colorful Valentine sprinkles mixed in… but there’s a fun baking trick used here too. I baked the cookies in a whoopie pie pan to make them BIG, uniform, and perfectly round. In other words, you’ll look like a real pro baker when you hand these babies out. ;)

I also used 2 of my favorite Krusteaz cookie mixes (Triple Chocolate Chunk and Snickerdoodle) to make this project extra easy, then designed some playful “window” cookie labels to package them up in style. The “windows” are positioned to look like the “mouth” on the bunny and the “belly” on the penguin and bear.

Side note: I included traditional Valentine’s Day messages on the labels, but am thinking that  fun alternative captions for these would be “Get in mah belly!” and “Open wide!”. If anyone would like these versions instead, you can download them right here.

Whoopie Pie Pan Cookies

Here’s a closer look at the process of making the cookies:

1. Preheat your oven to 350º.
Note: The instructions on the box say to preheat to 375º for regular cookies, but I tested these “whoopie pie pan cookies” at both temperatures, and 350º worked better in this instance since the unique style of pan affects the way they bake up.

2. Mix sprinkles into the cookie dough.
I used XOXO sprinkles for theTriple Chocolate Chunk cookies and tiny hearts for the Snickerdoodles.

3. Scoop the cookie dough onto the whoopie pie pan.
I used a 1 oz cookie scoop and was able to scoop 12 big, yummy cookies from one batch of mix.

4. Press the dough into the pan cavities.

5. Add another pinch of sprinkles on top.
This guarantees a big pop of color on the top of the cookies, where you really want it to show!

Note: The Snickerdoodle cookies require one additional step: rolling the dough balls in a sugar/cinnamon mix before pressing them into the pan, as shown below. A packet of this cinnamon/sugar mix is included in the Krusteaz Snickerdoodle cookie mix.

6. Bake for 9-11 minutes.
They should bake up nice and even, like this:

7. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes.
Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, pop them out of the pan. Now it’s time to package them up!

VALENTINE’S DAY “BAKED WITH LOVE” COOKIE SLEEVES

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You’ll need:

• Printable cookie labels (also available with funny captions)
• 2″ oval craft punch
• 4×6″ cellophane bags
• hot glue gun
• tape

Instructions:

1. Punch out the “window”.
Turn the craft punch upside down so that you can see/control the placement of the punch.

2. Hot glue the label to the bag.
Align the bottom of the label with the bottom of the bag.

That’s it! Your finished cookie sleeve packaging should look like this:

Time to add the cookies! Just slip one into each bag, then fold the excess bag over and tape the bag closed.

You can also add a printable to/from gift tag to the back if you’d like:

These make cute Valentine’s day gifts for friends, family, teammates, and more – not to mention a fun surprise for a lunchbox, co-worker’s desk, or neighbor’s doorstep. Hope you can use them to SPREAD SOME LOVE! ;)

This project is brought to you in collaboration with Krusteaz^®. As always, all thoughts, designs, and opinions are my own. THANK YOU so much for supporting the companies that make it possible for me to keep the creative inspiration & ideas coming your way!