decorating easter egg sugar cookies
Decorated sugar cookies were the most popular item at my bakery, especially around holidays. They are also the item people find hardest to make on their own. Decorating cookies with royal icing takes a little practice and patience, but the results are worth it. These marbleized easter egg cookies are pretty and impressive, but fairly simple to decorate. They would make a great addition to an Easter dessert table or bagged individually for Easter baskets.
You can use the colors of your choice- I prefer a lighter pastel base and slightly brighter colors for the stripes. You can also make monochrome cookies by using several shades of the same color. Vary the size and placement of the stripes to make each cookie unique.
There are a few important things to remember for these:
1)Take your time.
2)For this design, decorate each cookie completely before moving on to the next. If the icing starts to dry the design won’t work.
3)Wipe the toothpick off each time you run it through the icing.
4)Make the cookies 1-2 days in advance and let the decorated cookies dry overnight before bagging or boxing them.
If you want to make a bigger batch of cookies, you can multiply the royal icing recipe as needed.
NGREDIENTS:
You can use any homemade or store bought sugar cookie dough for these. The link to my sugar cookie recipe that I’ve posted in the past for subscribers is below.
SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH
ROYAL ICING:
3/4 cup pasteurized egg whites
8 cups powdered sugar, sifted
generous pinch salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
FOR DECORATING:
sheet pans with parchment
easter egg cookie cutter
food coloring: 3-4 colors ( I like the thicker gel kind available where cake decorating supplies are sold)
disposable piping bags (at least 4)
offset spatula
toothpicks
scissors
Time :2 hours
Yield :18-32 cookies depending on size of cookie cutter
TO MAKE:
Roll out the sugar cookie dough to 1/8” thick and cut out the cookies with an easter egg cookie cutter. Bake and cool.
TO DECORATE:
Make the royal icing by combing 3/4 cup egg whites, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a mixer. Whisk at medium speed until foamy. Add 8 cups of sifted powdered sugar in two parts. When it is incorporated, whip for about two minutes.
The icing will need to be divided to color it. Place about a half cup of icing each in three small bowls for the stripes. The remaining icing will used for the background color.
Gel color is very concentrated so start with a little bit of food coloring, stir it in completely and add a bit more until you get the color you want.
Put each of the icings in the disposable piping bags. Using scissors, snip the end of each piping bag to make a small opening for piping.
Using the background color, outline each cookie. This will keep the frosting from spreading off the edge.
Then, you will decorate each cookie individually. Gather your 4 piping bags, small spatula, toothpicks and a paper towel to wipe the end of the toothpick after each use.
Using the background color, fill in the frosting within the outline. You want to use just enough the cover the cookie without it overflowing. If needed, you can lightly spread the icing using a small spatula. Immediately, pipe stripes with the other colors across the cookie. Use a toothpick in a downward, then upward movement across the cookie to marbleize the design. Wipe the toothpick off between use. Repeat with each cookie individually, varying the placement of the stripes to create different designs.
