Easter Sugar Cookies

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Buttery sugar cookies are topped with colorful royal icing and then dipped in colored sugar to make gorgeous and easy to make Easter Sugar Cookies.

This recipe originally published in April 2011.

For years I’ve been making decorated sugar cookies.  I’ve made many, many different recipes before I settled on the cookie recipe I use today.

It’s an easy to make sugar and butter cookie that does not lose it’s shape in the oven.   It does need to be chilled before baking but the dough can also be made and frozen in advance. 

Years ago I used to sell my sugar cookies.  My top seller was always my Alice in Wonderland decorated sugar cookies.  A close second were my Gluten Free Lego Sugar Cookies. As for holidays it was a close race between my decorated Christmas Cookies and my Spiderweb Cookies for Halloween.

My decorated Easter cookies were never a big hit and they took a lot of time so I decided to change it up.  I still used my favorite sugar cookie recipe but instead of decorating the cookies I flooded them with royal icing and then dipped the cookies in colored sugar.

How do you Flood a cookie?

Flooding cookies typically refers to cookies that have a layer of icing or glaze covering them, often in decorating sugar cookies.Generally a thick line of royal icing is piped around the outside of a sugar cookie.  Then a thinned royal icing “floods” or fills in the center of the cookie inside of the outline.

What is Royal Icing?

Royal icing is a versatile icing typically made from powdered sugar, water, and egg whites or meringue powder. I used to use meringue powder in my icing but I’ve since moved on from that and have an easy to make and tasty recipe that I’ll share below.  Royal icing is commonly used in cake decorating, cookie decorating, and for creating intricate designs on baked goods. Royal icing dries hard, making it ideal for creating decorations that need to hold their shape or for adding fine details.

There are two things to note about decorating these cookies.  The first is that you need to use a good gel food coloring to color the royal icing.  I am partial to Americolor Gel Food Coloring because the colors are bright and true to the name. 

The second thing to note is the color of your sugar.   You can use sanding sugar or sparkling sugar.   Try to match the royal icing color to the sugar color.

Ingredients:

• all purpose flour
• baking powder
• salt
• butter (I use salted butter but you can use unsalted butter)
• granulated sugar
• egg
• vanilla extract
• powdered sugar
• corn syrup (this helps give the icing a nice shine)

To make the cookie dough combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and the sugar.   Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix well. 

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Turn the dough onto a clean surface and knead the dough until smooth.   Make it into a disc shape, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 90 minutes or until to 5 days.

Can I Freeze the Dough?

After wrapping the dough place it in a freezer bag and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.  When ready to use let the dough thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to bake the cookies preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and pull off a big chunk.  Place on a lightly floured surface and roll to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Use cookie cutters and cut out your favorite spring shapes.  Place the cut out cookie dough on a baking sheet leaving 2 inch in between each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes or until the dough does not look wet anymore.   The cookies should not be brown.  Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes then remove to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When ready to decorate combine the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, corn syrup, and water in a bowl.  Mix well until a thick icing forms.  Divide into several bowls and color them with your favorite spring colors.  I used pink, orange, yellow, and purple. 

Place a bit of each color in a zip top baggie.   Snip off the ends and pipe an outline onto each of the cookies.  Let the icing harden for about 15 minutes after piping. 

Pour the sanding sugar or sparkling sugar into a shallow dish. Working with one color at a time, thin the icing to a spreadable consistency.   Then spoon a bit onto a cookie, fill the outline in, and then quickly turn the cookie upside down into the sanding sugar to cover the face of the cookie. Place back on a the cooling rack for several hours or until the icing hardens.

Repeat these steps with the other colors of icing and sugars.  If desired use little candy balls for eyes on the chicks and bunnies.   You can also use different sprinkles to decorate the wings of the butterflies if desired. 

How do you store decorated cookies?

After the icing has hardened for at least 12 hours on the cookies you can stack them in an air tight container.  I usually put a piece of parchment paper between each row of cookies.  Store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks in the air tight container.  Do NOT refrigerate decorated cookies as the condensation can cause the icing to run.

Easter Sugar Cookies

Buttery sugar cookies topped with royal icing and sparkling sugar.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 54 minutes minutes

Servings: 3 dozen

Author: Hezzi-D

Equipment

• 1 cookie sheet
• 4 sanding sugars
• gel food coloring
• 1 Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

For the cookies:

• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the royal icing:

• 3 c. powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3-4 Tablespoons water
• 1 Tablespoons corn syrup
• Gel food coloring
• 4 sanding sugars

Instructions

• In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In a large bowl beat the butter until smooth. Gradually add in the sugar and continue mixing until fluffy.
• Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until mixed well.
• Slowly add in the flour mixture, mixing until just blended.
• Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough into a ball and flatten into a disc shape. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 90 minutes or overnight.
• When ready to bake the cookie preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Get out a large cookie sheet.
• On a lightly floured surface roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out the desired shapes and place on the baking sheet 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the tops no longer look wet.
• Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• To make the royal icing combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. The mixture will be thick.
• Divide the icing into 4 bowls and use gel food coloring to color each bowl.
• Place a bit of icing into 4 zip top bags. Snip the end off of a bag and pipe an outline on one of the cookie shapes. Repeat with remaining icing.
• At this point you will need to add a few drops of water to your icing to thin it out. The consistency you want is a slowly dripping icing that disappears into the bowl within about 10-12 seconds.
• Place the sanding sugar in a shallow dish.
• Flood the cookies one at a time with the thinned icing. Turn the cookie over and dip into the sanding sugar until the surface is covered in sprinkles. Do not press on the cookie too hard or the icing will run. If icing runs when you turn the cookie over it’s too thin and you will want to add some powdered sugar.
• Allow the cookies and icing to harden 12 hours on a cooling rack before storing them.

Notes

A Hezzi-D original recipe