Easter is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than with some delightful Easter Egg Sugar Cookies? These sweet treats are a joy to bake and a fantastic way to get creative in the kitchen. Their vibrant colours and delicious buttery taste make them perfect for Easter festivities. These cookies are sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face.
Soft Butter Cookies - A Standard German Recipe
For Easter, Christmas, or any occasion, I use the same Sugar Cookie recipe—a traditional German Butter Cookie Recipe (Butterplätzchen). The Easter Egg Sugar Cookies are soft and have a delightful buttery flavour.
Ingredients Needed
Flour – I use all-purpose flour.
Sugar – two sugar variations are needed for this recipe—caster sugar for the dough and powdered sugar for icing.
Butter –Butter gives the cookies a buttery flavour and ensures a softer, moister texture.
Egg and Egg Yolk – Medium Size Egg would be ideal
Salt – regular table salt, or whatever salt you use in the kitchen
Water – few tablespoons of water for icing
Food Coloring – My son, Max, and I love decorating cookies with colourful icing! This year, we used white, green, and blue icing. I use Dr. Oetker’s food colouring.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prepare the dough by mixing all the ingredients.
- Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Roll out the dough and use Easter- or spring-shaped cookie cutters to cut out the cookies.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Once baked, let the cookies cool and decorate them.
You need cookie cutters to create beautiful Easter egg sugar cookies. The ones I use are linked here: Easter Cookie Cutters.
Martas Recommendations for Easter
Few words about the Texture
With each step, the texture of the dough and cookies changes.
- Once all the ingredients are combined, the dough should be soft but not sticky. It will become firmer after resting in the fridge for one hour.
- Store the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. If it becomes too hard to handle, you can warm it up with your hands or let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
- Store any dough that you are not cutting in the fridge. If the dough is too soft, you won’t be able to lift the raw cookies without breaking them.
- Watch the cookies while baking: golden cookies will be soft, and brown cookies will be firmer.
- After baking, the cookies will be hot and soft. Please wait a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to avoid burning yourself or breaking the cookies.
Do I need an Icing?
Icing and sprinkles make cookies look very attractive, but they aren’t necessary. To be honest, I prefer cookies without icing because I feel that the extra layer of sugar masks the buttery flavor. However, for Easter (and for Max), we decided to add a layer of icing and Easter sprinkles. After all, everything tastes better with sprinkles for kids!
Basic Icing Recipe
The basic icing recipe is made with water and powdered sugar. To achieve the desired thickness of the icing, add three, two, or one tablespoon of water for every 100 grams of sugar.
Consistency Matters
The rule is:
1 tablespoon of water + 100 grams of powdered sugar = very thick icing
2 tablespoons of water + 100 grams of powdered sugar = thick icing (the one I chose)
3 tablespoons of water + 100 grams of powdered sugar = runny icing
Keep in mind that a thicker icing will make the cookie taste sweeter. Since sugar can overpower the flavor of butter, select the icing that you think will suit your taste best. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoy those cookies even without any icing!
Food Colouring for Icing
Kids are always drawn to shiny and colourful things, so I used food colouring for this recipe. Max had a great time mixing the icing and decorating cookies in his favourite colour, green. I didn’t even get a chance to take a photo of his precious cookies because they vanished quickly before I could do a photoshoot!
Final Tips for Your Easter Egg Sugar Cookies Bake Off
- Store the cookie dough in the fridge for at least one hour before baking to achieve the best results. This will help prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking and ensure a rich, buttery flavour.
- After baking, the cookies will be very hot and soft, so allow them to cool before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- Consider tasting a cookie before making icing; you might not need it at all!
- Additionally, make sure to purchase high-quality sprinkles, as they can significantly impact the overall taste of the cookies.
German Easter Egg Sugar Cookies
- 500 g flour
- 200 g sugar
- 350 g butter
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 egg yolks
Icing
- 100 g egg yolks optional
- 2 tbsp water optional
- 2 drops food colouring
- 100 g easter sprinkles
- cake decorating markers
- Take the butter out of the fridge so it softens a bit.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and sugar. Make a mould.
- Add butter, egg and egg yolks to the mould.
- Knead the dough for few minutes until all ingredients combine.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and store it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into four equal parts and store the ones you won't use in the fridge. If the dough gets too soft, the raw cookies will not keep their shape.
- Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Sprinkle flour on the worktop.
- Roll the dough to about 4-5mm thickness (1/5 inch).
- Using an egg-shaped cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used.
- Repeat until you run out of dough.
- Arrange cookies on the parchment paper of the baking sheet (2-3cm apart - 1 inch)
- Bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Let them cook on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and water. Add food coloring, if desired.
- Spread the water-sugar mixture on each cookie using a teaspoon and decorate it with sprinkles.
Martas Recommendations for Easter
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