These cookies are great for cutting into shapes. They were made for a Valentine’s day event I was hosting for Anthropologie, but you can make them any time of year and use different shaped cookie cutters. Normally, when you bake cookies they puff up and spread, but there is no egg, baking powder, or baking soda in these, and the addition of cornstarch helps them to keep their shape. Also, placing the dough partially rolled out in the refrigerator is another trick that works!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a stand mixer (or a hand mixer) place in the softened butter and the sugar and combine. Add in the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and cornstarch. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Then drizzle in the milk (or water) a little at a time until a firm, pliable dough forms. Mix until well incorporated.

Next, roll onto a wood board and flatten using a floured rolling pin. Don’t flatten it completely, just get it started. Place in a ziploc bag and into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. You can roll the rolling pin over the bag as well to make it level. I like using a french rolling pin.

Making the Icing.

In a bowl whisk together powdered sugar with a few tablespoons of milk until you achieve the right consistency for your icing: not too runny, not too thick and no lumps.  Whisk it until no lumps remain. If too runny, add more powdered sugar.  If too dry, add more milk a drizzle at at time.

Some Marbled Cookie Color Combinations:

Red-Blue-Purple Marbled Cookies.

Pour some of the white icing into a medium sized bowl and add to that a drop of red food dye and a drop of blue food dye. Using a toothpick swirl the colors together until you see red, blue and purple colors forming. Don’t over mix.

Red-Pink-White Marbled Cookies.

To create gorgeous deep pink/reddish hues as seen in the photo, start with a bowl of white icing and swirl in red food dye.

Black-Grey-White Marbled Cookies.

Start with white icing in a bowl and swirl in black food dye, for a more edgy vibe, that looks like Carrara Marble.

Purple-Lilac-White Marbled Cookies.

Start with a bowl of white icing and swirl in purple food dye, and add in some gold swirl accents for a creative twist.

Note: If the colors start to get murky and there are no definitive veins/marbling effect anymore, start over with leftover white icing.  There are endless possibilities that you can make.

After 20 minutes, take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll onto a floured work surface. Roll out about 1/4 inch thick. Place the cookie cutter in a little flour, then cut out all of your hearts. Save the excess dough, roll that out and start again, until you have made about 30-32 cookies and used all the dough. Place the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven about 15 minutes, turn pan half-way through.  They are done when they are a golden brown on the bottom. Let these cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Once cool, you can dip cookies in the icing. Place onto a cooling rack with a piece of parchment paper underneath to catch drippings. These will harden in a few minutes.  If you don’t like the design the first few tries, wipe it off immediately with a paper towel and start over.

I highly recommend using the gel dye, so much easier to work with!  Be very mindful of white counters, put parchment paper down to catch all drippings.

Tips: I usually dip my cookies twice.

Be creative and have fun. Great activity for the kids! Enjoy.