My Favorite Easter Sugar Cookies
on Apr 10, 2020, Updated Jun 28, 2024
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These Easter Sugar Cookies are the perfect to make on a spring day with your little ones. Moist, thick and chewy sugar cookies that are easy to cut into all sorts of shapes and decorate with frosting!
This is such a great basic sugar cookie recipe for any occasion, and you can switch up the colors, shapes, and designs to match the celebration!
Easter sugar cookies are a great way to celebrate this springtime holiday with your family by gathering together in the kitchen. Put on a happy playlist, bake all kinds of fun cookie shapes, and then decorate your hearts out for an afternoon activity! This sugar cookie recipe is pretty foolproof and always ends up chewy, soft, and moist every time with that sweet vanilla-flavored profile that we all love in a sugar cookie! If you love these sugar cookies, you would also love these Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies , Italian Wedding Cookies, and Hershey Kiss Cookies.
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents
Ingredients:
Shortening: I use butter flavored. I don’t use shortening often, but it’s something that makes these cookies extra soft and chewy. Trust me, it’s worth it!
Granulated sugar: This is what gives the cookies their signature sweetness.
Eggs: Cookies need eggs to bind them and help them rise.
Full-fat sour cream: I know, sour cream! It actually adds a great addition of moisture and the acid helps the baking soda activate.
Vanilla: Vanilla brings a lovely warmth to the cookie flavor.
Almond extract: Almond extract adds a nice nuttiness to the cookies.
Baking soda and baking powder: These help the cookies to rise and expand as they bake.
Flour: Flour is the ultimate binder of sugar cookies and helps them to rise a bit.
Salt: Salt balances all the other ingredients and cuts the sweetness just a tad.
Festive cookie cutters: You can use eggs, chicks, butterflies, or flowers.
Store-bought or homemade frosting: This is my favorite sugar cookie frosting to make at home, but your favorite store-bought kind works great, too!
See recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
Tips for the Best Sugar Cookies:
Let the dough chill: It will be too soft to work with if it’s not chilled for at least 30 minutes, and the cookies will spread too much as they bake, losing their shape.
Shortening makes the best cookies: I know it’s not everyone’s favorite ingredients, but it makes the ultimate chewy cookies. Just try it!
The messier, the better: Decorate your heart out and let your creative juices flow! There is no “wrong” way to decorate sugar cookies. Just have fun with it! They’ll taste good no matter what they look like.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Store your homemade sugar cookies in an airtight container with parchment paper between layers so that the cookies don’t stick together. Keep them at room temperature in a cool, dry space for up to 3 days. You can keep them in the fridge for up to a week, or the freezer for much longer.
I roll the cookie dough out to a bout 1/4 and inch to 1/2 and inch. If you like more cookie in the bite, make them thicker, but if you prefer a more even cookie to frosting ratio, go for the thinner cookie! Note: the thinner cookies won’t need to cook as long as the thicker ones.
Sugar cookies are a great basic cookie, but to add a little more texture, feel free to add sprinkles to the dough for a homemade “funfetti” cookie. You could also mix chopped nuts in for a bit of a crunch, or add 1/2 a cup of cocoa powder for chocolate sugar cookies.
More Cookie Recipes to Consider:
Dessert Recipes
Brownie Cookies
Dessert Recipes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookies
Italian Wedding Cookies
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My favorite Easter Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup shortening, (I use butter flavored)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup full-fat sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Festive cookie cutters, (you can use eggs, chicks, butterflies, or flowers)
- Store-bought or homemade frosting, (this is my favorite sugar cookie frosting)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Add the sour cream and vanilla.
- Next, add the baking soda, baking powder, flour, salt, and mix all together. The dough should be tacky without being sticky; adjust the flour as needed until you have a workable dough.
- Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes (and up to 2 days).
- Working with ¼ of the dough at a time, roll it out on a well-floured surface to ¼- to ½-inch thick. Be generous with your flour on the rolling surface since the dough is very tender; it will stick easily.
- Use cookie cutters to make shapes, and transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Repeat with remaining dough, gathering and re-rolling the scrap dough as you go along.
- Decorate cooled cookies with icing and sprinkles; the messier the better.
- This is my favorite frosting for sugar cookies if you need a recipe to go with this one.
Notes
- I don’t use shortening for a lot of recipes (this and My Favorite Pie Crust Recipe are about the only ones that I use it in), but it helps the cookies keep their shape and the end result is so much nicer. I figure if you’re just eating stuff like that a few times a year, it’ll balance itself out.
Step #4 says add nutmeg, I’m assuming a typo 😁
Yes, I used to add a little but my kids didn’t like it, lol.