Description
Delight in these festive Easter Egg Sugar Cookies, perfect for holiday celebrations. Soft, buttery sugar cookies shaped like Easter eggs, optionally decorated with colorful royal icing or pastel sanding sugars for a fun and festive touch.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- Pastel-colored sanding sugars or icing for decorating
Royal Icing (optional)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder
- 3–4 tablespoons warm water
- Food coloring (pastel shades)
- Piping bags or squeeze bottles for decorating
Instructions
- Prepare Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to ensure even distribution of leavening agents and salt.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together for 2–3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy, creating a smooth base for the cookies.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if using) until fully combined to add flavor complexity to the dough.
- Combine Dry and Wet Ingredients: Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms, ensuring no flour pockets remain.
- Chill Dough: Divide the dough into two halves, flatten each into discs, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up the dough for easier rolling and cutting.
- Roll and Cut Dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll each disc to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use egg-shaped cookie cutters to cut out cookies and place them on parchment-lined baking sheets.
- Bake Cookies: Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 8–10 minutes or until the edges are just barely golden, ensuring a tender bite.
- Cool Cookies: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely to room temperature before decorating.
- Make Royal Icing (optional): Beat together powdered sugar, meringue powder, and warm water in a medium bowl for 5–7 minutes until stiff peaks form. Divide into bowls and tint with pastel food coloring as desired.
- Decorate Cookies: Using piping bags or squeeze bottles, pipe or flood the cooled cookies with royal icing. Allow the icing to dry completely before stacking or storing to prevent smudging.
Notes
- For a quick and simple version, skip the royal icing and sprinkle pastel sanding sugars on the cookies before baking.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week to maintain freshness.
- Royal icing-decorated cookies can be made ahead and frozen for convenient holiday gifting or celebrations.
- Be sure not to overbake the cookies; they should remain soft and tender.
- Almond extract is optional but adds a lovely subtle flavor that complements the vanilla.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 150
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 90mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
