Easter Cookie Decorating

Baking and decorating cookies for Easter is one of the favorite activities in my household and I put together this hub to inspire you to try your hand at baking some of these fun designs this year.

Of course like any family, we sometimes run short on time so we can't always make iced decorated cookies. But when that happens, I still buy the bag of pastel M&M's and at least whip up a batch of pastel M&M cookies to serve on Easter day. And if you are like some of my friends and family, you aren't a big baker. If that is the case, I suggest buying some Easter cookies from your local bakery or ordering some like the ones shown in the photo online for delivery right to your door. The Easter egg cookie photo courtesy of Gourmet Cookie Bouquets.

The first step to baking up a good batch of cookies is making sure that you have all the ingredients and tools (like cookie cutters) that you'll need on hand. Check out these great tools and decorations from Amazon!

The collage below shows a wide range of shapes and decorating ideas for Easter cookies.  This Easter cookie collage is courtesy of DessertLover2010 at Flickr.  He or she has put together 13 images that cover just about every shape imaginable from crosses to chicks to bunnies to eggs and more.  Decorations range from royal icing to sugar glitter to fondant and even marzipan.  I hope that you can use these photos for inspiration when you are planning what to bake for Easter this year.

These adorable Easter bunny cookies are easy to make and fun to eat! To make the cookies, you'll need to bake a batch of bunny-shaped sugar cookies. So mix up your favorite batch of sugar cookie dough, roll the dough out, cut cookies out using a bunny-shaped cookie cutter and bake them until lightly browned. Note - you can find my favorite "No Fail Sugar Cookie Recipe" on this All About Cookie Bouquets lens at Squidoo.

While the cookies are cooling, you'll need to make a batch of royal icing. Standard royal icing recipes normally call for three ingredients: water, powdered sugar, meringue powder (available at some grocery stores and craft stores like Michaels). Here is the recipe that I use:

Standard Royal Icing Recipe
3 Tbsp. meringue powder

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar - sifted

6 to 8 Tbsp. water (depending on consistency desired)

In a mixing bowl, sift together the meringue powder and powdered sugar until they are combined. Sifting is important to avoid lumps in the icing. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, mix in the water a little at a time until you get the desired icing consistency. The amount of water needed varies based on the humidity in the air. You'll also want a thicker icing if you are planning to outline the cookies and a thinner icing to "flood" the cookies. Split the icing into 3 bowls (you'll need mostly white for the bunnies). In the other two bowls, make the pink and black icing.

To ice the cookies, use a piping bag or put the frosting in plastic ziploc bags and cut-off the corners to substitute for a piping bag. Just follow the instructions in the video above to decorate these adorable cookies!

The video below has some great tips for making your own Easter cookies. With tips on how to get the dough consistently 1/4" thick to how to color your own sugar to decorate the cookies prior to baking (rather than icing) to tips on icing cookies such as chicks and eggs, this video gets an A+ from me. Be sure to check it out because I'm guessing you'll learn some great tips to make your Easter cookie decorating much faster and easier!

If you watch the video, you'll hear about the great cookie decorating book called "Cookie Craft" that Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer wrote to give bakers tips on everything from baking to decorating cookies.  It is available from Amazon.

Many online and local bakeries sell Easter cookies that are fully decorated so you get all the fun without all the work. The Easter cookie bouquet shown to the right is available from Gourmet Cookie Bouquets. You can buy bouquets with 3, 5, 7, 9 or 12 cookies that range in price from about $30 - $85. This particular gift has lots of pastel decorated easter cookies that are on sticks so they could be arranged in a floral-like bouquet. What a fun centerpiece idea for the Easter buffet or a Easter gift idea for people (like college students) that can't make it home for the celebration.