Best 4 Easter Sugar Cookies Recipes

EASTER SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg yolk and extracts. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle., Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a 2-1/2-in. cookie cutter dipped in flour. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 8-10 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Decorate as desired.

MARTHA'S EASTER SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and cognac until well combined. Add flour mixture; beat on low until just combined. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough evenly and shape into 2 disks; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 45 minutes and up to 5 days.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate until very firm, about 30 minutes, or freeze 10 minutes. Stamp out shapes. Transfer cutouts to prepared sheets, about 1 inch apart. Reroll scraps; stamp out more shapes and transfer to sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes, or freeze 10 minutes. Bake until set and golden around edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Royal Icing: In a bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, egg whites, and 2 teaspoons lemon juice until smooth. If necessary, add more lemon juice or confectioners' sugar to reach desired consistency. Divide and tint with gel-paste colors as desired. Pour some into squeeze bottles for detailing.

EASTER SUGAR COOKIES W/ICING THAT HARDENS

Steps:

• 1. Cookies: In a large bowl combine butter with sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Beat using an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. In another bowl, combine the flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
• 2. Set oven to 400 degrees. line cookie sheets with parchment paper (do not grease cookie sheets, use parchment paper only). On a very lightly floured surface roll out the dough into about 1/4-inch thickness Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. (roll dough on the parchment paper and remove excess if cookies are delicate) Place cookies 2-inches apart (I did 1-inch) on cookie sheet. Bake for 4-6 minutes. (I did 6 minutes) Remove cookies to wire racks to cool completely before icing.
• 3. ICING: In a small bowl mix the powdered sugar with milk (start with 1 or 2 tablespoons, you will likely need more milk for the perfect spreading consistency). Beat in corn syrup and a little vanilla until the icing is smooth and glossy (if the icing is too thick add in a small amount of more corn syrup). Divide into as many separate bowls as you wish to different colors. Add in food coloring until desired intensity is achieved. Pain the icing over the cookies using a brush,or dip edges of cookies into icing. Wash brush before changing colors. Allow to set on waxed paper. Decorate as you want. I needed two batches of frosting for these cookies. The second batch of frosting, I did not sift the powdered sugar and made a little stiffer frosting to use as decorating the cookies..

MARTHA'S BROWN-SUGAR EASTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter with sugars on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Let dough stand at room temperature until pliable. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to just under 1/4 inch thick, dusting with flour as needed. Cut out shapes with cutters; transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Reroll scraps and repeat. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake until golden, rotating sheets once, about 18 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
• For cookies with white and colored dots: Use a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip (such as #3) to make icing dots (about half as many dots as you want on finished cookies). Sprinkle with sanding sugar and let set, then shake off excess sugar. Pipe additional dots on cookies; let dry.
• To coat cookie surface with icing: Place icing in a shallow dish and carefully dip cookie into icing, leaving a thin border. Transfer to a wire rack and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Let set and shake off excess sugar. If desired, pipe additional dots on cookies (or pipe a dot for a rabbit's eye). Let dry overnight. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment up to 1 week.