Easter Egg Cookies

How to Make Easter Egg Cutout Cookies

We will guide you step-by-step to make these cute cookies. In testing, we figured out the best ratio of plain dough to colored dough to use. Then we learned the best way to create the designs. Hint—keep it simple.

Mix the Dough

Start with Betty Crocker™ Sugar Cookie Mix and the 3 tablespoons flour to make the dough for cutout cookies. The extra flour stiffens the dough, making it less sticky and easier to roll out and cut into cookies. It also lessens the amount the cookies spread while baking.

Color the Dough

Separate just 1/2 cup of dough from the batch to color. This is one of the smart takeaways from testing. Too much colored dough, and the design gets too convoluted. Divide the dough into fourths, and color each with a different color. We used neon food colors but you can choose your favorite Betty Crocker™ Gel Food Color to make it your own.

Roll out the Dough

Roll the plain dough to 3/16-inch thick on a floured board. The right thickness of dough for any recipe is one of the variables for success. We have a couple of tricks to help with this.

The first one is to have a clean pastry ruler among your kitchen utensils. (You will thank us for this later because you may find you use it a lot in the kitchen.) This could also be a bench scraper with a ruler on it. Use this to measure the thickness of the rolled dough at eye level.

The second tip is to use rolling pin spacer bands. These ingenious gadgets slip onto the ends of your rolling pin and allow you to roll the dough to the thickness of the bands. These work not only for cookies, but for rolling pasta and bread as well. Just swap out the colored rings for the size you need for the recipe.

Design the Cookies

Once the plain dough is rolled out it’s time for the fun part to begin – designing your Easter egg cookies. Begin by shaping the colored doughs into ropes, zigzags, dots, or other shapes on a lightly floured surface to prevent sticking. Go thin on the ropes, about 1/4 inch or less in diameter, and small on the dots, making a variety of balls about 1/8- to 1/4-inch across. Once all the colored dough has been shaped, place the ropes, balls and any other shapes you made, in designs on the rolled out plain cookie dough. Cover all of it with waxed paper and gently roll the colored dough partially into the plain dough. Try not to flatten the colors completely into the plain dough, to allow for a 3D effect.

Cut and Bake

Using an oval or egg-shaped cookie cutter, cut shapes from dough, and place on cookie sheet. If you don’t have an egg-shaped cookie cutter, you can cut an egg-shaped oval from a piece of paper, place it on your dough, and use a sharp knife to cut around the template. Keep the cutouts as close together on the dough as possible to get as many cookies as you can from the first roll of dough. Once the first cuts are made, push the dough together and flatten to cut more shapes. The pattern may not be quite as distinct as the cookies cut from the first roll of dough, but they will still look festive. Place 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until the cookies are set and just beginning to brown on the edges. That’s it! 

More Springtime Food Art

Tis the season for beauty. And what better way to celebrate that beauty than with eye-catching and flavor-forward recipes to share with your family and friends. These ideas are simple enough to get young hands into the fun.

Easter Bunny Cake never goes out of style. Expect squeals of delight from the younger audience and a nostalgic nod of appreciation from adults. It is a centerpiece and a dessert, all in one.

Springtime Celebration Mini Bundt Cakes may require a special mini bundt pan, but you can create and decorate cakes for every season with it. Vary the frosting color, candy topping, and sprinkles for any time of the year.

Kid Salad brings the fun to fruits and veggies, too. Let kids fashion their best image into a healthful salad. You may be surprised how silly or sensible they can be.

PEEPS® Cookie Nests bring whimsy and fun to spring. Kids of all ages will enjoy hiding candy eggs in the nest before topping with a candy chick.

How to Store

Allow the cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack before storing. Adding warm cookies to a storage container can create steam inside the container and result in soggy cookies.

Countertop: Storing your Easter egg cookies at room temperature is easy. Simply place in resealable food-storage plastic bags or airtight food containers for up to 5 days.

Refrigerator: There really is no need to store your Easter eggs cookies in the refrigerator. But if you want to use the fridge, be sure to place them in tightly sealed airtight food containers so they stay fresh. Store up to 4 days.

Freezer: Store the baked and cooled cookies in airtight food storage containers for up to 12 months. To thaw, remove the sealed container from the freezer and set it on the counter at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.