Easter Cookie Decorating Tips

10 tips for easy Easter cookie decorating

1. Tint melted white chocolate chips with a few drops of food color, and dip one end of the cookies in the white chocolate.  Set on a cooling rack until coating hardens
2. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in the microwave with 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening for 1 minute. Carefully stir until smooth, returning to the microwave in 15-second turns until melted and smooth.  Using a spoon, drizzle chocolate across cookies. Let stand until chocolate hardens.
3. A pretty decorated egg makes a wonderful Easter gift or a cute addition to each Easter dinner place setting.  Find food-safe plastic bags at craft and food specialty stores; add one cookie to the bag and tie with a pastel ribbon.  You can add a few foil-covered chocolate eggs or jelly beans to the bag.
4. Find an egg cookie cutter and other spring shapes at the Betty Crocker Store.
5. Gumdrops and other jelly candies are fun to use as cookie decorators.  Slice in various shapes and add to frosted cookies in geometric patterns and stripes.
6. Add a few drops of almond or orange extract to purchased frosting to give it a flavor twist.
7. Food coloring comes in liquid, paste and gel forms.  Gel and paste will give your frosting a bolder color.  Find paste and gel colors at craft and food specialty stores.  Most supermarkets carry liquid food coloring in the spice aisle.
8. A small offset spatula is a cookie decorator’s best friend! Once you try it, you’ll be hooked. Find one at the Betty Crocker Store or in the utensil section of a discount store.
9. You can thin frosting with a teaspoon of milk or water;  make it thicker by stirring in a few teaspoonsful of powdered sugar.
10. To add a simple design, cut a shape (a bunny is easy!) out of paper, smaller than your cookie surface.  Frost the cookie, and before the frosting sets, set the paper shape lightly on the center of the cookie. Sprinkle colored sugar over the entire cookie.  Carefully lift off the paper, leaving an unsugared design. 

Bake cookies:  Stir Betty Crocker® cookie mix, butter, egg, and flour together, as directed on package, until dough forms.  Roll out dough on floured surface to ¼-inch thickness.  Cut with egg-shaped cookie cutter, and place cookies on a cookie sheet 1 inch apart.  Bake at 375° until light golden brown.  You’ll have about 3 dozen egg cookies.  Now comes the best part:  decorating!

Marbled eggs:  So pretty, so simple!  Stir together a little white frosting  from a can and 1 to 2 drops gel food color until well blended. Frost cookies with remaining white frosting.  Spoon the colored frosting to a sandwich bag and cut a tiny hole in one corner of the bag.  With the frosting bag, pipe three lines of colored frosting across each cookie; drag a  toothpick across the lines,  through the frosting, for a lovely marbled design.

Candy designs:  Let your creativity shine!   Stir frosting and 2 to 3 drops favorite gel food color until well blended and frost cookies. Decorate with jelly beans and candy-coated chocolate candies.  Even your youngest helpers can join in the fun!

Easter Chick: Cute meets delicious!  Stir together about 1 1/4 cups white frosting from a can and 2 to 3 drops yellow gel food color until well blended. Frost the top half of each cookie with yellow frosting and the bottom half with white frosting. Use black sprinkles for eyes, yellow sprinkles or candy-coated yellow licorice for feathers, and small piece of orange candy slice for the beak.