Easter Sugar Cookies
These pastel-colored Easter sugar cookies are made with a classically simple rolled cookie recipe and topped with homemade vanilla frosting. Perfect for spring!
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Table of Contents
- About Easter Sugar Cookies
- What tools do you need for Easter sugar cookies?
- What’s in Easter sugar cookies?
- Do you need to chill the dough?
- How long are Easter sugar cookies good for?
- Can you freeze these cookies?
- Notes & tips for Easter sugar cookies
- More delicious Easter recipes
- Other fun cookie recipes
- How to make Easter sugar cookies
- Recipe Details
About Easter Sugar Cookies
With bright pastel colors and a simple frosting design, these Easter sugar cookies are a delicious baked dessert for celebrating spring.
What tools do you need for Easter sugar cookies?
- Mixing bowls and a stand mixer (or hand mixer or whisk) – For mixing both the dough and the icing.
- Egg-shaped cookie cutters – This makes it easy to get the perfect egg shapes for your cookies.
- Baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats – For baking up the cookies.
- Pastry bag (or a ZipLoc bag) – Used to pipe the icing on to the cookies.
What’s in Easter sugar cookies?
To make these spring-themed pastel sugar cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- All-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, salted butter, egg, milk, and vanilla – Classic baking ingredients for delicious cookies.
- Powdered sugar – Used for creating the decorative icing.
- Food coloring – Technically optional, but pastel food coloring is really what makes these cookies look so festive for Easter.
Do you need to chill the dough?
Great news here, guys! Because there is no butter in this recipe, you do not need to chill the cookie dough before baking.
Curious why you may (or may not) need to chill dough for cookies? It has a lot to do with fat content, a big portion of which comes from the butter. You can read more about how it all works here: To Chill or not to Chill.
How long are Easter sugar cookies good for?
Once prepared, cooled, and decorated, these cookies can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Can you freeze these cookies?
If you’d like to always have a batch of these cookies on hand, the easiest way is to freeze them for later. There are two ways you can do this.
To freeze the raw dough:
- Mix all ingredients, then separate the dough into two portions. Wrap the dough in plastic and store it in a freezer bag or sealed containers.
- Place the dough in the freezer.
- Cookie dough can be stored for up to six months. When ready to bake, thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then roll and bake cookies like normal.
To freeze the baked cookies:
- Bake and allow to cool completely.
- Store cookies in a single layer in a freezer bag or storage container. If you need to stack the cookies, separate each layer with a sheet of wax paper.
- Baked cookies and be stored for up to three months.
Notes & tips for Easter sugar cookies
- This recipe includes basic instructions for making vanilla icing, but it’s not the same as royal icing. You can easily replace the icing recipe with royal icing or use store-bought icing.
- If you’re doing a lot of baking, I highly recommend having some silicone baking mats on hand. Baking cookies takes enough time without having to cut or measure parchment paper. Or if you prefer using parchment paper, you can try using pre-cut parchment paper sheets instead.
- Plus, some quality baking sheets are a must for a cookie-baking extravaganza!
- For this recipe, I highly recommend using a stand mixer or a hand mixer. This recipe would be difficult to make by hand with a whisk.
More delicious Easter recipes
Other fun cookie recipes
How to make Easter sugar cookies
This next part is only a photo tutorial of the recipe steps. If you’re looking for the full recipe measurements and instructions, scroll down to Recipe Details.
Step 1 – In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly mixed, then set aside.
Step 2 – Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer + large bowl), whip together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Step 3 – Add in the egg, milk, and vanilla, then mix well.
Step 4 – Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until the dough has a soft, thick texture.
Step 5 – If using food coloring, divide the dough into an equal portion for each color being used. Add a few drops of food coloring to the dough and mix until desired color is reached.
Step 6 – Flour a work area and roll out the dough. Use an egg-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the egg-shaped cookies, then transfer them to a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Step 7 – Bake!
Step 8 – While the cookies cool, prepare the vanilla icing by mixing together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until creamy.
Step 9 – Add the vanilla frosting to a pastry bag (or a ZipLoc bag) and cut a small hole in the end. Pipe the frosting in easter egg patterns over the cooled cookies.
Step 10 – Serve and enjoy!
Easter Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Easter Sugar Cookes
- 2/3 cup salted butter
- 2 egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- food coloring, in green, pink, yellow, and blue
Vanilla Icing
- 3 tablespoons milk, or up to 4 tablespoons
Instructions
For the Easter Sugar Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, then set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt, then set bowl aside.3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer + large bowl), cream together sugar and butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 5-7 minutes.1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 2/3 cup salted butter
- Reduce speed to low and add egg, milk, and vanilla, mixing thoroughly until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.2 egg, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Keeping speed on low, quickly add dry ingredients to mixer, scooping in about 1/3 to 1/2 cup at a time. Stop mixing once dough looks smooth and uniform. Be careful not to overmix.
- If using food coloring, divide dough into an equal portion for each color, then mix in the food coloring until desired color is reached.food coloring
- To cut cookies, prepare your work surface by dusting it with flour. Also coat your hands, cookie cutter, and rolling pin with flour, and set a bowl of flour nearby in case the dough begins to stick. Bring dough over to your work area, use the rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness, then cut the dough with your floured cookie cutters. Arranged cut cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 2 inches apart. When you have cut all the cookies you can from a roll of dough, collect the scraps, flour your surface and tools, and roll dough out again. Repeat this step until all the dough is used or cookie sheets are full.
- Bake cookies for 9 minutes or until tops are firm and the bottom sides turn a light golden brown.
- Let cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
For the Vanilla Icing
- Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer + large bowl), whip powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla on high speed until incorporated, about 5-7 minutes.2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Check the consistency; it should be smooth and solid, not crumbly or watery. If too firm, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. If too liquid, add more powdered sugar, 1-3 tablespoons at a time.
Putting it All Together
- Add the vanilla icing to a pastry bag (or a Ziploc bag) and cut a small hole in the corner. Decorate the cooled cookies with Easter egg patterns as you see fit.
- Allow icing to harden, about 15-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
I do my best to provide nutrition information, but please keep in mind that I’m not a certified nutritionist. Any nutritional information discussed or disclosed in this post should only be seen as my best amateur estimates of the correct values.
