Description
These festive Easter cookies are soft and buttery with hints of vanilla and almond. Pretty in pastel shades, they’re topped with my favorite royal icing and decorated like Easter eggs, PEEPS-inspired bunnies with marshmallow tails, and simple carrots. For simpler designs, like on the bunnies and carrots, you can use my easy glaze cookie icing.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for rolling and work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but makes the flavor outstanding)*
For Decorating
- royal icing or easy cookie glaze icing (see blog post above to read about each)
- gel food coloring
- sanding sugar sprinkles
- mini marshmallows, halved (for bunny tails)
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Dough will be a bit soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.
- Lightly dust one of the rolled-out dough portions with flour. Place a piece of parchment paper on top. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least 1–2 hours and up to 2 days.
- Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. I used an egg cookie cutter, bunny cookie cutters, and the carrot from this set.
- Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
- Arrange cookies on baking sheets 3 inches apart. Bake for 11–12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
- Decorate: Prepare royal icing or cookie glaze icing. If you’re using royal icing, it’s best to use piping bags and tips. If you’re using the cookie glaze icing, you can use a squeeze bottle or piping bags/tips. Keep in mind that if you want sharp design detail on the Easter eggs, it’s best to use royal icing and piping bags/tips.
- For the carrots and bunnies: Keep most of the icing white for the bunnies and carrot tops, and tint some orange for the carrots. Using icing tip #4 or a squeeze bottle, outline and flood the bunnies and the carrot tops with white icing. Immediately top with sanding sugar sprinkles. And, for the bunnies, add a halved marshmallow “tail” while the icing is still wet. If making the carrot cookies, outline and flood the orange icing after applying the green sprinkles on the carrot tops. Allow icing to set. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help speed up the icing setting. Royal icing sets within about 2 hours, and cookie glaze icing sets in about 24 hours.
- For the Easter eggs: Divide icing up among a few bowls. I used 4 colors: sky blue, lemon yellow, violet, and fuchsia. I left some icing white. Using icing tip #4, outline and flood with your base color(s). Allow icing to set (I place the cookies in the refrigerator so the icing sets in about 30 minutes). Using piping tip #2 or piping tip #1, add decorative designs in different colors like polka dots, squiggles, plaid, or stripes. Allow icing to set. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help speed up the icing setting. Royal icing sets within about 2 hours.
- Enjoy cookies right away or wait until the icing sets to serve them. Once the icing has set, these cookies are great for gifting or for sending. Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Plain or decorated sugar cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months before rolling it out. Prepare the dough through step 3, divide in half, flatten both halves into discs as we do with pie crust, wrap each in plastic wrap, then freeze. To thaw, thaw the discs in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature for about 1 hour. Roll out the dough as directed in step 4, then chill rolled-out dough in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to 1 hour before cutting into shapes and baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Rolling Pin or Adjustable Rolling Pin | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets | Cookie Cutters (I used an egg cookie cutter, bunny cookie cutters, and the carrot from this set) | Cooling Rack | Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit | Wilton Icing Tip #4 for outlining and flooding | Wilton Icing Tip #2 or Wilton Icing Tip #1 for Easter egg detail | Squeeze Bottle | Piping Bags (Disposable or Reusable) | Couplers
- Room Temperature: Room-temperature butter is essential. If the dough is too sticky, your butter may have been too soft. Room-temperature butter is actually cool to the touch. Room-temperature egg is preferred so it’s quickly and evenly mixed into the cookie dough.
- Flavors: I love flavoring this cookie dough with 1/2 teaspoon almond extract as listed in the ingredients above. For lighter flavor, use 1/4 teaspoon. Instead of the almond extract, try using 1 teaspoon of maple extract, coconut extract, lemon extract, or peppermint extract. If using lemon extract, you can also add 1 Tablespoon lemon zest.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.