Want to show the nurses in your life how much you appreciate them? Whether it’s Nurse Appreciation Week or not, these nurse sugar cookies are so cute that your favorite nurses will appreciate the gesture.
I mean, come on. They’re cookies! And whether you choose the EKG (heartbeat rhythm) or the old-school nurse pattern, each of these is sure to bring a smile to your favorite nurse. So the next time you need to thank a nurse for their hard work, make sure you’ve got this sugar cookie recipe handy.
How to Make EKG and Nurse Sugar Cookies
Ready to celebrate nurses? Let’s do this!
Nurse Sugar Cookies

Know a nurse? Tell them thanks this Nurse Appreciation week with delicious Nurse sugar cookies that look like nurses - and EKGs. They're delicious and your nurse will love them!
Ingredients
Cookie ingredients
- 1 C of unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
- 1 1/2 C Powder sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3 C of flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cream of tarter
- Cookie Cutter: Rounded generic Skull cookie cutter and heart cookie cutter
Icing ingredients
- 5 egg whites
- 1 tsp cream of tarter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 5 C powder sugar
- Ivory, Red, Chocolate brown, black gel food coloring
- 5 disposable piping bags fitted with a number 2 tip
- 4 squeeze bottles
- 1 edible marker
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
- Using a standing mixer, cream together the butter, powder sugar, vanilla and egg and mix until combined and creamy
- Using a large bowl, combined the flour, baking soda and cream of tarter
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed
- Using your hands continue to mix until fully combined
- Lightly flour a cutting board and knead the cookie dough a couple of times
- Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick
- Cut out 12 nurse's and 12 hearts, placing 6-8 shapes onto a cookie sheet
- Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly golden brown
- Repeat steps until completely out of dough
- Let cookies cool completely
Royal Icing Directions:
- Using the standing mixer, combine the egg whites, cream of tarter, vanilla and powder sugar and mix until combined and stiff peaks form
- Split the icing into 5 bowls
- Leaving one bowl white, add a color into one bowl each. You should have a bowl for each color (white, red, hair color 1, hair color 2, skin color)
- Mix the colors until they are the shades that you want
- Scoop about 1/4 C of each colors into the 5 piping bags
- Mix in 1-2 tablespoons of water into the brown, red, white and ivory bowls
- Pour thinned icing into the squeeze bottles
- Draw out the outline of the Nurse hair onto the cookies
- Using the brown piping bag, pipe out the detail of the Nurse hair
- Fill in with the brown thinned icing
- Using the ivory piping bag, pipe the outline of the face below the hair
- Fill in with the thinned ivory icing
- Using the white piping bag, pipe the nurse hat and fill in with the thinned white icing
- Using the red piping bag, outline the hearts
- Fill in with the red thinned icing
- Allow cookies to dry over night
- Using the black piping bag, pipe two dots for the pupils
- Using the brown piping bag, pipe out curly lines for the hair
- Using the red piping bag, pipe out a cross in the center of the hat
- Using the white piping bag, pipe out a heart beat onto the center of the heart
- Allow to dry for 2 hours before enjoying!
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 363Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 28mgSodium 141mgCarbohydrates 69gFiber 1gSugar 56gProtein 3g
Know a nurse? Tell them thanks this Nurse Appreciation week with delicious Nurse sugar cookies that look like nurses – and EKGs. They’ll love them!
These Sugar Cookies are Delicious! Enjoy!
Cute, right?
And if you don’t get the heartbeat **quite** right, don’t worry too much. It’ll look like arrhythmia and I’m sure your nurse friend will have entirely too much fun trying to figure out which block or dysrhythmia you drew!
Now go enjoy those cookies with your favorite nurse.
Related Recipes and Topics:
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- Want to take your Nurse Appreciation gift to the next level? Make sure you dress the plate of cookies by adding EKG-themed gifts. Nurses have the weirdest sense of humor, y’all.
- Easy, No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar
Your nurse friends will LOVE these cookies anytime – but especially during Nurse Appreciation Week!
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