Ah, Valentine’s Day. It’s that time of year when love fills the air and the sweet scent of freshly baked cookies wafts through my kitchen. I’ve always been a firm believer that the fastest way to a person’s heart is through his or her stomach. So there’s no better way to let your boo know how much you care, than to bake them up a sweet treat for this lovely occasion.

When it comes to the perfect Valentine’s Day treats, my mind immediately goes to sugar cookies. These basic roll-out cookies are flavored with a hint of vanilla, baked to golden brown perfection and topped with shiny royal icing.

You can cut these humble cookies into any shape your heart desires and they serve as the perfect canvas for getting creative and trying out different designs. Seriously, it’s hard not to fall head over heels for these simple, yet all around perfect, Valentine’s Day sugar cookies.

This year, I decided to go a little wild by straying from the usual Valentine’s Day cookies and experimenting with a variety of fun shapes and designs. These tasty treats all start out with my classic sugar cookie recipe. It’s simple, delicious and it never lets me down. Once the dough was chilled, I rolled out a variety of shapes that ranged from hearts in various sizes, to elephants, beehives and whales. I really wasn’t joking when I said I decided to go wild this year.

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I used royal icing to decorate them in all different ways. For some cookies, I focused on using the icing to create depth and detail. For other cookies, I decided to flood the entire surface with royal icing, hand paint them, and then add more details on top with royal icing. I used each cookie as an opportunity to try something new, and while some icing techniques required a bit of a learning curve, the results were pretty fantastic.

If you’re in need of a little cookie inspiration for February 14th, check out some of my swoon-worthy Valentine’s Day sugar cookie designs. Seriously, these cute cookies are guaranteed to make you Valentine’s Day extra sweet.