Easter Sugar Cookies

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With an easy-to-make dough that doesn’t require any electric equipment—just a bowl and clean hands—these are our go-to easy Easter Sugar Cookes. You can make them plain or top with a simple icing, too.

Prep Time20

Cook Time8

Total Time28

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: (Makes about 4 dozen small cookies)

Calories: 190kcal

Author: Amy Palanjian

Equipment

Ingredients

Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

Easy Icing (optional)

¼ cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons milk
1-2 drops food coloring (optional)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To make the cookies:

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Stir together.
Add the remaining dough ingredients and use your hands to mix together to form a dough. (You can also use a food processor If you prefer.) If the dough is a little crumbly, be sure that it's thoroughly combined and then if it's still crumbly, add 1/2-1 tablespoon additional milk until it comes together.
Make two flattened disc of dough and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate while the oven preheats.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Working with one ball of dough at a time, roll about ¼-inch thick between two additional pieces of parchment paper.
Cut out the dough with a cookie cutter and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Re-roll the scraps of dough and continue cutting out. (If you have any difficulty moving the cutouts, lightly flour the parchment paper.)
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. (If you have some smaller shapes than others or some thinner cookies than others, you may need to remove them from the baking pan first, and allow larger or thicker ones to bake for an additional few minutes.)
Remove from the oven, let cool on the baking sheet for a minute, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, repeat with the remaining dough.

Easy Icing (optional)

Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl. You want it to be able to spread easily on the cookies and not be too thick. If you place some on the cookies and it runs right off, add a little more powdered sugar. If it's too thick to spread, add a drop or so of milk. You can color the icing with a drop of food coloring if desired.
Use a small butter knife or paintbrush to spread on the icing or pipe on as desired. If adding sprinkles or other decorations, add them to the iced cookies right away before it dries.

Notes

Store fully cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days.
If the dough sticks after you initially chill the dough and roll it out, cut out the shapes and put it back into the fridge without trying to get the shapes out so it firms up more. Let the sheet pan chill for 10 minutes, then use a flat knife to pop up the shapes.
If the dough is a little crumbly, be sure that it's thoroughly combined and then if it's still crumbly, add 1/2-1 tablespoon additional liquid until it comes together.
To make this dough ahead: Store it in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 24 hours. It will need to sit at room temperature for about an hour to soften up, or you can remove it from the plastic, put it onto a plate, and microwave for 5-10 seconds.
Gluten-Free: Use this gluten-free cup-for-cup style flour.
Dairy-Free: Use plain unsweetened nondairy milk in place of dairy milk. Use coconut oil, just softened (so not totally liquid, but softer than when it comes out of the jar at room temp) instead of butter. I tested it with about 10 seconds in the microwave in a heat-safe bowl.

Nutrition