Soft, sweet and almost too cute to eat, these easy Easter sugar cookies are the perfect spring treat.
Chocolate bunnies, marshmallow peeps and creme eggs, oh my! Tis the season for Easter treats and if you’re looking for something that’s both delicious AND adorable, let me introduce you to my new favorite cookie.
She’s giving cute, she’s giving buttery, she’s giving oodles of frosting.
How to make these cookies
First, make the sugar cookies.
For this tutorial I’ll be showing you how to make my favorite sugar cookie recipe, but you could just as easily use chocolate sugar cookies.
Combine the sugar and butter, and beat on a medium speed until light and fluffy.
Why do we cream the butter and how do we know when it’s ready?
Creaming these two ingredients together allows the sugar to aerate the butter, leading to muffins that are light with a fine crumb. Properly creamed butter is light, fluffy and doesn’t cling to the sides of the bowl.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix until just combined.
Add the flour and beat until the dough clumps and easily pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4″ thickness.
Cut out your cookies. Use a piping tip to cut a hole 1/4″ from the edge out of half of them.
Place the cookies onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake at 350F for 7-9 minutes.
How do you know when sugar cookies are done?
The perfect sugar cookie is one that’s baked but not browned. You’ll know they’re done when they’re no longer shiny on top. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet. This will continue the baking process without causing them to brown.
Second, assemble your cookie sandwiches.
To assemble your cookies, you’ll need a cup of frosting. Any frosting will work for these, including store bought.
Pipe or spread a thin layer of frosting onto the cookies without the holes, working the frosting almost all the way to the edge.
Place the cookies with the hole on top apply gentle pressure to seal.
Note:
If you don’t apply the frosting nearly all the way to the edge, you’ll have to apply so much pressure when you press the cookies together that frosting will come out the hole in the top.
Spoon the remaining frosting into a piping bag and clip a small opening at the end (or use a small round tip like a Wilton #5).
Pipe a large dollop at the base of the opening for the nose/mouth area and two long strips from the top of the cookie down to the hole.
You can also pipe a few round dollops of frosting under the hole to create feet. I did this for a few of my cookies for a little variation.
As you finish piping, release the pressure on the bag and gently swirl the tip to create a flat finish on your piping work.
Using black frosting, pipe two small dots for eyes. If you’d like, you can use a few dots of white frosting to create reflections.
Pipe a heart shape with pink frosting to create the nose.
Depending on the kind of frosting you use, you may or may not be able to stack these for serving/transport. A crusting buttercream will work best for this. If at all possible, serve/transport these cookies unstacked.
Expert tips
- Bringing butter to room temperature: Fill a bowl with warm water, place the butter in a slightly smaller bowl and place it over the bowl of water. The butter should be at or around room temperature in about 5-10 minutes.
- Working ahead: This sugar cookie dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up 5 days or freezer for up to 3 months before use. Be sure to thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator before using it.
- Sugar cookies lost their shape while baking: If your cookies lost their shape during the baking process, no worries! If you act quickly, it’s an easy fix. Simply re-cut the cookies with the same cookie cutter immediately after removing the tray from the oven.
- Storage: Unfrosted sugar cookies can be stored in a cookie jar at room temperature for 2-3 days or in a cool, dry, airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
Easter Sugar Cookie Sandwiches
These soft, buttery sugar cookies feature a peek-a-book cut out to reveal a sweet frosting bunny.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Refrigeration: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
- Yield: 14 sandwiches 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup), at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup frosting
Instructions
Sugar cookie:
- Beat the butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until just combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the flour, and mix on low until just combined.
- Increase the speed to medium and continue beating until the dough is clumps and easily pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough will be soft but shouldn’t be sticky.
- Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4″ thick.
- Cut out the dough with a 2 1/2″ round cookie cutter. Use the wide end of a piping tip to cut a circle out of half of the cookies about 1/2″ from the edge.
- Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at least one inch a part.
- Bake at 350F for 7-9 minutes, or until no longer shiny on top.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet.
Cookie assembly:
- Pipe or spread an 1/8″ layer of frosting onto the cookies without the holes, working it almost all the way out to the edges.
- Place the cookies with the hole on top, gently pressing down to seal.
- Spoon the remaining frosting into a piping bag and clip a small opening at the end.
- Pipe a dollop in the bottom of the hole to create the bunny’s cheeks/mouth and two strips from the top of the cookie down to the hole for the ears.
- Spoon the black frosting into a piping bag, clip a very small opening and pipe two eyes. Use two small dots of white frosting to create a reflection if you’d like.
- Put the pink frosting into a piping bag, clips a small opening in the end, and pipe a heart shape to create the nose.
- You can also pipe two dollops on the out rim of the cookie under the hole to create feet.
Keywords: easter sugar cookies, easter bunny cookies, sandwich cookies
If you liked this recipe, you might also like…
These are adorable !
★★★★★