Easter Cookies
These cuddly creatures—in the shape of eggs perfect for any spring occasion—are so cute. Simple decorations give them so much personality. For the cookies pictured here we used a little sugar dough to add dimension and extra detail. We’ve made these for special Easter baskets and for baby showers, too!
Yield: Approximately 12 cookies
Recipes:
1 recipe cookie dough
1 recipe Royal Icing
Materials:
Food Coloring gels: Sunset orange, coal black, rose pink, electric pink, royal blue, lemon yellow, buckeye brown.
3 ounces gum paste or fondant
Shortening (for rolling out fondant or gum paste)
Egg whites (optional)
Sanding sugar (optional)
Equipment:
Egg cookie cutter 4” high x 3” wide or template
X-acto knife
Toothpicks
Pastry bags and plastic couplers
Scissors
Pastry tips: #1, #2, #3 (for royal icing); #4, #10, #12, #804, #806, #808 (for gum paste or fondant decorations)
Templates for sugar decorations (OPTIONAL)
Small rolling pin
Plastic mat
Scalpel or paring knife
Veining tool
1 small paintbrush
Stitching tool (optional)
Small bowls (optional) Spoon(s) (optional)
Directions:
- Prepare the cookie dough and roll it out as directed. Use the egg cutter or template to cut out cookies. Bake according to the recipe. Let the cookies cool completely. While the cookies are cooling, make the Royal Icing.
- Divide the Royal Icing into 4 portions and dye one pale yellow and one pale pink. Leave one portion white. Divide the fourth portion in half; dye one half flesh color for the lamb’s face and the other half black for the lamb’s and bunny’s mouths. Put the pale yellow, pale pink, white and flesh colors into separate pastry bags fitted with #2 tips and outline the cookies (pale yellow for the chick, pale pinks for the bunny, white and flesh color for the lamb—for the lamb’s face use the template on page 00 as a guide.)
- Reserve a small amount of the stiff white and black icings. Add water to the remaining icings to loosen and fill pastry bags fitted with #3 tips. Flood the cookies one at a time in the same colors you used for the outlines. Let the cookies dry, uncovered, on a flat surface overnight. The next day they will be ready for you to add the finishing details.
- Optional: If you want to decorate any of the cookies with sanding sugar, before the flood dries place the flooded cookie on a flat surface with parchment paper or a paper towel underneath and spoon on the sanding sugar. You will need about 3 tablespoons of sanding sugar per cookie. Let the cookie dry for at least 20 minutes before removing the excess sugar. If you disturb the cookie too soon the icing may run off the sides.
Decorating Techniques for Cookies Pictured:
Lamb
- Dye ½ ounce of fondant or gum paste (about the size of a large gumball) pale pink for the nose and inside the ears. On a smooth surface greased with shortening, roll approximately 1 ounce of white fondant or gum paste out to ¼ inch thick and cut out two ears. You will need to flip the template to create both ears—you want a right ear and a left ear. Emboss the center of the ears with the veining tool or the back of a scalpel to make room for the pale pink inside sections of the ears. Roll out the pale pink gum paste as thin as you can and cut out the center shape for each ear and the shape of the nose. Attach the nose and the center of each ear with a small amount of water. Attach the ears to the top of the cookie with a small amount of stiff white icing.
- Using a #1 tip, pipe the curly fur of the lamb with stiff white icing all over the face and ears. Pipe the mouth with stiff black icing and a #1 tip.
- To make the eyes you need to layer four circles of gum paste. Dye a pea-sized ball of gum paste black and another pea-sized ball of gum paste baby blue. Roll the baby blue, black, and a marble-sized ball of white gum paste as thin as possible. From the white cut out two circles, one with a #808 tip and one with a #4 tip. Then cut a circle from the baby blue with a #806 tip and a circle from the black with #804 tip. Start with the largest white circle, place the baby blue dot on top of that, then the black, and finally the smallest white and you have an eye!
- For the eyebrows and eye lashes, roll a small amount of black gum paste into a tin rope 1/16 inch wide by 1 inch long. Cut two eyebrows about ¼ inch long and four eyelashes 1/8 inch long and curve them using the veining tool or a toothpick. Attach the eyes, eyelashes, and eyebrows to the cookie with tiny amounts of egg white or water, using a small brush.
Bunny
- To make the ears, follow the directions for the lamb, but reverse the colors, using pale pink for the ears themselves and white for the inside section. If you want a floppy-eared bunny, after you’ve attached the insides gently fold down one of the ears.
- To make the nose, dye a pea-sized ball of gum paste hot pink. Roll it out on a surface coated with a little shortening and cut out the triangular shape. Attach the nose to the cookie with a moistened paintbrush.
- Pipe the whiskers of the bunny with stiff white icing and a #1 tip and pipe the mouth with stiff black icing and a #1 tip.
- Create the eyes from a pea-sized ball of black gum paste rolled super thin and cut out with a #12 tip. Attach the eyes to the cookie with a paintbrush moistened with egg whites or water.
Chick:
- If you want your chick to have a fuzzy appearance, decorate it with sanding sugar before applying any other decorations. (Refer step 4 in the directions above.)
- Start with ½ ounce (about the size of a gumball) of gum paste. Separate a pea-sized amount from that and dye it black. Divide the remaining gum paste in half and dye one half bright orange and the other half golden yellow.
- Roll the orange and yellow sections out to 1/16 thick on a surface lightly coated with shortening. Cut out the chick’s beak from the bright orange and the chick’s crest from the golden yellow. The beak should be about 1½ inch across and about 1 inch on all sides . Add stitching marks around the edges then fold the beak in half. Attach the back of the beak onto the cookie with a dab of egg white, using a small paintbrush, and then place a bit of paper towel inside the beak to support it while it dries.
- Cut out the crest and use the back of a veining tool or a scalpel to make hair marks. Attach it to the top of the cookie with a dab of egg white.
- To make the eyes, roll out the ball of black gum paste as thin as you can and cut out circles using a #10 tip. Apply them to the chick’s face with tiny dabs of egg white.
