These Easter Egg Sugar Cookies are a simple recipe for perfectly soft sugar cookies. These cut-out cookies are thick, soft, fluffy, and decorated with homemade royal icing!
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These Easter Egg Sugar Cookies are the perfect holiday gift or addition to an Easter gathering, and so fun to make with the kids!
They’re made with the same dough as my Christmas sugar cookies, then decorated with homemade royal icing. While most cut-out cookies are more crispy, these are incredibly soft, perfectly sweet, and, of course, super cute!
These Easter cookies are perfect for decorating with your favorite Easter designs but are also delicious topped with buttercream frosting.
Looking for more sugar cookie recipes? Check out my soft frosted sugar cookies, frosted lemon sour cream sugar cookies, or Grandma’s sour cream sugar cookies.
Easter Egg Cookie Ingredients:
This Easter cookies recipe is loaded with simple ingredients that create incredibly soft sugar cookies! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Unsalted Butter: bring the butter to room temperature before creaming it with the sugar for smoother results.
- Granulated Sugar: you can’t have sugar cookies without the sugar!
- Sour Cream: sour cream is the secret ingredient for incredibly moist sugar cookies.
- Egg: our binding agent that helps the cookies hold shape.
- Vanilla Extract: adds flavor depth and warm sweetness.
- All-Purpose Flour: I recommend either weighing the flour (you’ll need 520 grams) OR spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off with your finger. This ensures that it isn’t too packed in and results in more accurate measurements.
- Baking Powder: keeps the cookies light and soft.
- Salt: cuts the sweetness and brings out the flavors.
- Royal Icing: we’re making the perfect decorating icing with icing sugar, meringue powder, water, and vanilla.
How to Make Easter Egg Sugar Cookies
These Easter egg cookies are so quick and simple to make and make the cutest gifts!
Sugar Cookies
- Make the dough: Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add in the sour cream, egg, and vanilla, then beat until combined. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix until a soft dough forms. Optionally, chill the dough for 1 hour or overnight. This will create more crisp edges but they still keep their shape even if you cut them right away!
- Form the cookies: Roll the cookie dough out onto a large piece of lightly floured wax paper. Cut into desired shapes, then place onto parchment-paper lined baking sheets.
- Bake: Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 8-10 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool completely before frosting.
Royal Icing
- Make the frosting: In a bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, meringue powder, water, and vanilla. Add additional water as needed to thin until the icing is smooth.
- Color the background: Divide the frosting into bowls and add food coloring to each bowl to color as desired. Use a piping bag to go around the outer edge with icing, then fill OR use a spoon to scoop a small amount of icing into the middle and carefully spread it to the edge.
- Decorate: Allow the first layer of frosting to set for 20-30 minutes, then use a fine tip piping tip to decorate as desired!
FAQs for Easter Egg Cookies
Nope! I like to chill the dough for 1 hour after mixing the dough and then for an additional 5 minutes in the freezer before baking to make it easier to work with and help get those crisp edges. However, those steps aren’t necessary. The cookies come out great even without chilling!
Frosted Easter cookies will last in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the fridge for up to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. If you’re freezing the cookies, store them with parchment paper between the layers to prevent them from sticking. To enjoy again, thaw in the fridge if frozen, then enjoy!
Practice! You can spread some on a piece of wax paper or a plate to see how it runs and sets before decorating cookies. Keep in mind that for the fill icing (the background), you will want it quite a bit thinner than for piping. If you want to pipe designs, it’s best to gradually add powdered sugar and try piping a line on wax paper to see if it is firm enough.
Tips, Tricks, and Notes
- Roll the dough to 1/4-1/3″ thickness. This is just the right thickness for perfectly soft sugar cookies.
- Don’t over-bake. Bake the cookies until they look slightly puffed and dry, but aren’t browning at the edges yet. They may look slightly underdone when you take them out, but will set as they cool.
- Cool completely. Make sure the cookies are completely cooled before you add the icing. If they’re warm when you frost the cookies, the icing will just melt and become runny.
- Let the icing set. Any time you add another layer of icing, be sure to let it set before adding anything else or before storing the cookies to keep your decorations intact.
- Use the right food coloring. While liquid coloring works great for pastel colors, you have to add a lot more of it if you want darker colors and you may need to add more powdered sugar to thicken the frosting again. For rich, dark colors, choose gel or powdered food coloring.
More Easter Recipes You’ll Love
Easter Egg Cookies
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar 400 grams
- ⅔ cup sour cream 5-14%
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all purpose flour 520 grams
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Royal Icing
- 3 cups powdered icing sugar
- 2½ tablespoons meringue powder
- 4 tablespoons water (up to 6 tablespoons if necessary)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (or another extract)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and creamy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add sour cream, egg and vanilla and beat until combined, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until combined. A slightly soft dough should form.
- Optional: you can chill this dough for 1 hour or overnight if you prefer, and it will be a little easier to work with. This isn't necessary though, and the cookies will still keep their shape even if baked right away.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll out cookie dough on a large piece of lightly floured wax paper to ¼"-⅓" thickness (you can dust with a tiny bit of flour if necessary — don't overdo it! If it is too sticky to roll, sprinkle a little flour on top — the smallest amount possible). Cut out desired shapes and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. OPTIONAL: chill in freezer for 5 minutes before baking for more crisp edges.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes, until they look slightly puffed and dry but are not yet browning at the edges. Don’t overbake or they will become hard — they may look slightly underdone in the center but will set up as they cool.
- Let cool completely before frosting.
Royal Icing
- In a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, meringue powder, water and vanilla.
- Add 1 teaspoon of water at a time if necessary until the icing is smooth.
- Hold up the whisk and drizzle some icing over the top — the drizzles should stay on top of the icing for 3-4 seconds before settling back in. The consistency of the icing is important but a little thicker or thinner isn't a huge deal! You can adjust the consistency as needed while you are icing the cookies. If you find it too thick to get that smooth look, add a tiny bit of water until it is thin enough. If you find it too thin and it spreads too easily, add a bit more powdered sugar.
- To color the frosting, divide into several small bowls and add food coloring to each bowl. Gel frosting is best, but liquid coloring works as well for pastel colors. If using liquid coloring and you add a lot, you may need to add powdered sugar to thicken the frosting again. Cover each color with plastic wrap when you are not using it to keep it from hardening.
- To color the background with icing, you can either use a piping bag and go around the outer edge before filling, or just use a spoon. To use a spoon, scoop a small amount of icing into the middle of the cookie and slowly spread it to the edge.
- To make designs on top, allow the first coat of icing to harden for 20-30 minutes. Thicken the frosting with additional powdered sugar (you want it pretty firm). Use a fine tip piping tip to make intricate designs. Experiment and have fun!
- Frosted cookies can be stored at room temperature for 1-2 days, refrigerated for up to 7 days, or stored in the freezer with parchment paper between the layers for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Roll the dough to 1/4-1/3″ thickness. This is just the right thickness for perfectly soft sugar cookies.
- Don’t over-bake. Bake the cookies until they look slightly puffed and dry, but aren’t browning at the edges yet. They may look slightly underdone when you take them out, but will set as they cool.
- Cool completely. Make sure the cookies are completely cooled before you add the icing. If they’re warm when you frost the cookies, the icing will just melt and become runny.
- Let the icing set. Any time you add another layer of icing, be sure to let it set before adding anything else or before storing the cookies to keep your decorations intact.
- Use the right food coloring. While liquid coloring works great for pastel colors, you have to add a lot more of it if you want darker colors and you may need to add more powdered sugar to thicken the frosting again. For rich, dark colors, choose gel or powdered food coloring.
Nutrition Information
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