Decorated Easter Egg Cookies
Decorated cookies are a great place to start practicing, or to perfect, your piping skills. You can make the cookies as simple or elaborate as you like.
cookies
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 5 oz confectioner sugar (1 ¼ cups)
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 7 ½ oz all-purpose flour (1 ½ cups, see note)
Royal Icing
- 3 oz pasteurized egg whites (⅓ cup)
- 16 oz confectioner sugar (4 cups)
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Cream 4 oz unsalted butter with 5 oz confectioner sugar, ¼ teaspoon table salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon lemon extract on low speed until softened and well combined. Increase the speed to medium high and mix for 1 minute to slightly aerate (see note 1). Scrape the bowl and the beater. With the mixer running on medium-low, add 1 large egg and mix until incorporated. Add 7 ½ oz all-purpose flour all at once and mix just until combined.
- Dump the dough on to a floured surface and knead until all the flour is incorporated. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to several days.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to ⅛" thick. Cut the desired shapes and set the cookies onto the prepared pans.
- Re-roll and cut the scraps until all the dough is used up (See note 2). Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown and the dough is set. Cool on a wire rack before decorating.
Make the Royal Icing
- Combine 3 oz pasteurized egg whites and half of the sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat (not whisk) on low speed until there are no lumps of sugar. With the mixer running, add the remaining sugar and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl.
- Increase the speed to medium high and beat until the mixture is aerated and becomes whiter, 2 minutes (see note 3). Color as desired with paste color.
- Pipe outline on each cookie, let the outline set, then flood with thin icing to fill in the shape. Pipe decorative details.
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
Don't over aerate the butter and sugar. Too much air in the dough will cause the cookies to puff up in the oven, distorting the shape.
To work ahead you can roll and cut the cookies. Wrap and freeze on the sheet pan. To bake, place them in the oven straight from the freezer without defrosting.
Add a few drops of water or extra sugar to adjust the consistency of the icing based on what you're piping. Use thinner icing for "flooding" the cookie and thicker icing for piping outlines and details. If you use liquid food color you may need more sugar to thicken the icing.
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