Easter Egg Sugar Cookies Recipe

For the Sugar Cookies

1. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the shortening, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla extract together until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat just until well combined and the dough starts to stick together, about 1–2 minutes. Do not overmix.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
5. Sprinkle a clean work surface lightly with flour, then place about ⅓ of the dough onto the prepared surface to roll out. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
6. For soft and thick cookies, it’s recommended to use a rolling pin with thickness rings and use the ⅜-inch thickness ring. If you aren’t cutting these cookies out thick, you’ll want to reduce your baking time to reflect that (start checking cookies after 8 minutes instead of 12 minutes).
7. Cut the cookies out using egg-shaped cookie cutters. The eggs shown here are about 3 inches in size, but slightly larger works just fine.
8. Place the cut-out cookies onto the prepared baking sheet. The cookies can be placed close together on the baking sheet for this step. Place sugar cookies in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill before baking.
9. While the cookies chill, preheat oven to 350°F.
10. Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Place some cookies onto the baking sheet (about 2 inches apart) and bake for 12-14 minutes for thick-cut cookies, 8-10 minutes for thinner cookies, or until tops of cookies look set (no longer wet but not yet brown) and the bottoms of cookies are slightly brown. The middle of cookies will still be slightly soft to the touch but will continue baking once removed from the oven. Only bake one tray of cookies at a time to ensure even baking time for all cookies.
11. Repeat baking steps with remaining cookies.
12. Let cookies cool completely before frosting.

For the Buttercream

1. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If the frosting seems too thick, beat in a tablespoon of water.

Decorating Steps

1. Separate the frosting into separate smaller bowls. Use food coloring to color icings in desired colors. Stir completely to make sure all color is worked into the icing.
2. Place icings into tipless piping bags and close the ends (the side you were putting the icing in) using clips or elastics. Cut small openings in the tips of each icing bag. For background colors, the tips can be cut larger. For icings you’ll be printing with or doing finer details with, keep the tip cut small.
3. Start decorating with background colors on all cookies (like the brown of the basket and the blue of the sky). Simply start by lining the outside of the cookie then continue filling in following the shape of the cookie. If icings are not squeezing out of the bags smoothly, roll piping bags between hands to warm icing a bit making it easier to squeeze out. Do not microwave icing – even 5 seconds in the microwave can turn the icing into a melted mess.
4. Work on decorating cookies in layers – first the background color, then finer details like the carrot top or eggs in basket. Lay cookies out in a single layer to dry.