These heart-shaped butter cookies come together very easily using not a spoon, not a whisk, but your hands! There will be a lesson in patience: It does require that you wait and chill your dough for up to one day.
Red Velvet Cookies
Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
Vibrant red cookies to match those homemade Valentine’s? Yes, please! These sweet and slightly tangy cookies are easy for little hands to make. Dump all the ingredients in the mixer and whip them up in just a few minutes. Add some white chocolate chips on top to make them look extra special.
Dirt Cake
Cups of Dirt Cake with Gummy Worms
Contributor Micah Siva says, “Classic gummy worms are the traditional garnish, but any type of gummy candy works. I would recommend sticking to the theme of slimy insects and creatures—gummy frogs, spiders, or alligators. Avoid sour-coated gummies since the flavors clash with the creamy pudding.”
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Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
A red velvet cupcake set in a cupcake liner with a bite taken out of it.
What’s better than one red velvet cake? Two dozen red velvet cupcakes! For me, this is the first thing that comes to mind when making red desserts for Valentine’s Day. Just remember, it calls for red food coloring, so be prepared for little red fingers.
Raspberry Cheesecake in a Mason Jar
Mason Jar Raspberry Cheesecake
If you have leftover raspberry sauce from the pancakes above and an adventurous young baker in the house, level up with these individual cheesecakes. Let the kids crush the cookies in a zip top bag with a rolling pin. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Then, lend a hand transferring the water bath into the oven. Since they’re much smaller than a traditional cheesecake, they bake faster, and that means less time hearing, “Is it done yet?”
Homemade Cosmic Brownies
Stack of Homemade Cosmic Brownies and more on the counter around it
Contributor Kayla Hoang says, “When aiming for clean slices, letting your brownies cool completely is crucial. Additionally, if cutting brownies that are topped with ganache (like these), you want to make sure it’s set before cutting.”
Best Sugar Cookies
Royal icing for sugar cookies piped into a variety of patterns and sent on a cooling rack.
Irvin Lin
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Cookies are the gateway dessert into baking for kids. And there’s a reason for that: They’re easy to make and super fun to decorate. Sugar cookies are a blank canvas for young bakers, so break out the pink, red, and white sprinkles. These sugar cookies are easy to make and roll out thanks to a secret ingredient: cream cheese.
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Brown Sugar Snickerdoodle Cookies
brown sugar snickerdoodles next to a glass of milk
Snickerdoodles are a fail-proof cookie. Kids will love rolling the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and using their hands to flatten them. Think of it them as Play-Doh you can eat!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Pop-Tarts
A Peanut Butter and Jelly Pop Tart Cut in Half, Leaning on More Gourmet Pop Tarts on a Piece of Parchment Paper
