These adorable Easter Egg Sugar Cookies are as gorgeous as they are delicious! Vanilla flavored with a vibrant buttercream frosting, they’re decorated to become the cutest Easter cookies.
Frosted Sugar Cookies
Brighten up any Easter gathering with these delicious frosted sugar cookies! You and the family can have so much fun decorating them and even more joy eaten them! Perfect for a holiday treat or dessert.
These Easter egg sugar cookies will be the perfect treat for the holidays!
Looking for more cookie recipes? Why not also try my Funfetti Cookies and my Lucky Charms Cookies.
Why You’ll Love these Spring Sugar Cookies:
- Vanilla: These sugar cookies have that perfect vanilla hit!
- Colorful: Topped with a buttercream frosting, these cookies are real showstoppers.
- Easy: Made using pantry staples, this recipe comes together with ease.
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How to Make Easter Egg Sugar Cookies
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- In separate bowls mix your wet and dry ingredients, then combine.
- Roll out your dough and cut into egg shapes.
- Place your cookies on a prepped baking sheet and bake.
- Mix your frosting ingredients in a bowl.
- Separate the frosting into bowls and add food coloring.
- place your frosting into piping bags and decorate the cookies.
Yes! In order to prevent the cookies from spreading and losing their beautiful Easter egg shapes, it’s important to chill the dough in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before baking.
If your dough is looking dry and crumbly, it likely needs more moisture. Beat in an additional 2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening. If your dough is too sticky, it is likely too wet. Sprinkle extra flour on your work surface and knead the dough into this (until fully combined) before rolling it out again. When ready to roll out the dough again, make sure the table and the rolling pin are both sprinkled with extra flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
Yes! For a firmer frosting that will hold its shape (and can be stacked), mix 4 cups of powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons of meringue powder (or 2 egg whites) and 10 tablespoons of water, adding more water or powdered sugar as needed until you reach your desired consistency. Divide and color the frosting. Be sure to work quickly, as royal icing sets up fast!
If the icing isn’t a squeezable consistency, add in a small amount of water (a tablespoon to a full bowl of icing or just a drop into a small bowl of icing) and stir well to mix.
No, the butter-to-sugar ratio in the frosting makes them safe to leave out at room temperature for up to 3 days; however, I recommend refrigerating them before packaging just to help prevent the icing from getting smudged during handling.
These springtime cookies will fly off the plate, and they are a breeze to whip up. Decorating these Easter egg sugar cookies is the best party, so make it into a fun family activity!
These cookies are super versatile, you can make them thick and soft or thin and crispier – either way they are so scrumptious!
Make Ahead Instructions
These cookies are a great make-ahead treat! You can bake the cookies and make the frosting, storing separately at room temperature, up to 2 days in advance and frost the cookies as a fun Easter activity! Or, pop them in the fridge and store for up to 5 days. Fully frosted cookies can also be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days before serving or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Storage Instructions
Store leftover Easter egg sugar cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freezing Instructions
Freeze these Easter egg sugar cookies in single layers using parchment paper between layers. Be sure that the icing has been chilled and hardened before stacking with parchment paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Bring cookies back to room temperature before serving.
Decoration Tips
- Divide the frosting into as many bowls as you’d like colors. Be sure to add extra frosting to the colors you think you’ll use a lot, and be sure to leave one bowl white!
- For richer, darker frosting colors, use more gel food coloring. For pastel colors, use just a drop.
- Cut wider tips in the icing bags for backgrounds and flooding, and cut smaller tips for details and text.
- Look at decorated Easter eggs online for inspiration.
- Start with simpler designs first until you get the hang of piping; then, move on to more complicated designs.
- Always work from the background to the foreground, piping the sky and ground, for example, before piping any food or figures.
- Don’t worry if you make a mistake. This frosting is easy to scrape off with a butter knife and start again!
Tips for Perfect Cookies
- Roll out the dough to ⅜-inch thickness for soft, thick cookies. Use a rolling pin with thickness rings for accuracy.
- For thinner cookies, roll the dough out thinner and adjust the baking time down by a few minutes.
- Don’t skip chilling the cookies! They will spread out and become misshapen if you don’t chill them.
- Be careful not to overbake the cookies! Bake until just beginning to brown on the bottom.
- Make sure the cookies are completely cool before frosting them; otherwise, the frosting will melt and slide off.
Perfectly sweet with that lovely vanilla hit, these gorgeous Easter egg sugar cookies will be a slam dunk this springtime! Friends and family can have a great time decorate them, make a big batch as they will go quickly!
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Easter Egg Sugar Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup vegetable shortening (1 stick)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tablespoons milk room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter slightly melted (2 sticks)
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- gel food coloring
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
- Hand Mixer
- 2 Baking Sheet
- Rolling Pin
- Piping Tip Set (optional)
Instructions
For the Sugar Cookies
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the shortening, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla extract together until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.1 cup vegetable shortening, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.3½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat just until well combined and the dough starts to stick together, about 1–2 minutes. Do not overmix.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Sprinkle a clean work surface lightly with flour, then place about ⅓ of the dough onto the prepared surface to roll out. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
- For soft and thick cookies, it’s recommended to use a rolling pin with thickness rings and use the ⅜-inch thickness ring. If you aren’t cutting these cookies out thick, you’ll want to reduce your baking time to reflect that (start checking cookies after 8 minutes instead of 12 minutes).
- Cut the cookies out using egg-shaped cookie cutters. The eggs shown here are about 3 inches in size, but slightly larger works just fine.
- Place the cut-out cookies onto the prepared baking sheet. The cookies can be placed close together on the baking sheet for this step. Place sugar cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill before baking.
- While the cookies chill, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Place some cookies onto the baking sheet (about 2 inches apart) and bake for 12-14 minutes for thick-cut cookies, 8-10 minutes for thinner cookies, or until tops of cookies look set (no longer wet but not yet brown) and the bottoms of cookies are slightly brown. The middle of cookies will still be slightly soft to the touch but will continue baking once removed from the oven. Only bake one tray of cookies at a time to ensure even baking time for all cookies.
- Repeat baking steps with remaining cookies.
- Let cookies cool completely before frosting.
For the Buttercream
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If the frosting seems too thick, beat in a tablespoon of water.1 cup unsalted butter, 2½ cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Decorating Steps
- Separate the frosting into separate smaller bowls. Use food coloring to color icings in desired colors. Stir completely to make sure all color is worked into the icing.gel food coloring
- Place icings into tipless piping bags and close the ends (the side you were putting the icing in) using clips or elastics. Cut small openings in the tips of each icing bag. For background colors, the tips can be cut larger. For icings you’ll be printing with or doing finer details with, keep the tip cut small.
- Start decorating with background colors on all cookies (like the brown of the basket and the blue of the sky). Simply start by lining the outside of the cookie then continue filling in following the shape of the cookie. If icings are not squeezing out of the bags smoothly, roll piping bags between hands to warm icing a bit making it easier to squeeze out. Do not microwave icing – even 5 seconds in the microwave can turn the icing into a melted mess.
- Work on decorating cookies in layers – first the background color, then finer details like the carrot top or eggs in basket. Lay cookies out in a single layer to dry.
Notes
- Roll out the dough to ⅜-inch thickness for soft, thick cookies. Use a rolling pin with thickness rings for accuracy.
- For thinner cookies, roll the dough out thinner and adjust the baking time down by a few minutes.
- Don’t skip chilling the cookies! They will spread out and become misshapen if you don’t chill them.
- Be careful not to overbake the cookies! Bake until just beginning to brown on the bottom.
- Make sure the cookies are completely cool before frosting them; otherwise, the frosting will melt and slide off.
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