An easy cut out & decorate sugar cookie recipe that makes just 12 cookies!
I love to celebrate holidays on theme, so decorating sugar cookies is a fun and easy way to be on theme! I’ve always loved the sugary flavor and pretty colors that can create beautiful cookies- but I get tired of rolling out endless amounts of dough and then carefully decorating all of them. This recipe is great because it makes just 12 cookies, a small enough number to reasonably eat in a few days as just two people, and not too many that I get bored with decorating them!
I adapted this recipe from a favorite of mine in a cookie cookbook that my mom has had for ages- Best Butter Cookies from The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook. The adaptation came by accident as over Christmas my mom and I were making 6 different kinds of Christmas cookies at once (because we love cookies and each family member has a different favorite) and I accidentally forgot to add the egg to the sugar cookies! They turned out delicious and you’d never notice the egg was missing. So when I set out to make a small batch sugar cookie recipe I realized I could skip dividing out part of an egg and just have an egg-less recipe!
Equipment Needed
- Sheet Pan: A cookie sheet or sheet pan that allows enough room to allow the cookies to spread a little in the oven
- Mixer: I use my 5 quart Kitchen Aid stand mixer for everything but these can also be made with a stand mixer.
- Kitchen Scale: this is the most accurate method of measuring ingredients. (I also include US measurements in the notes of the recipe if you prefer to bake with cups, but not it’s not the most accurate way to bake)
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter: Use unsalted as this cookie has a subtle sweet flavor and a brand of butter that uses a lot of salt could make your cookie taste a little salty!
- Orange Juice: This may seem like an odd ingredient- it gives a little citrus brightness and a little extra sugar. If you only have high pulp orange juice I’d recommend straining it so you don’t get lumps in your cookies but regular or low pulp works as is.
- Vanilla Bean Paste: This is a more flavorful way to add vanilla to your baked goods. It is thicker and has specks from the vanilla bean seeds and provides more vanilla flavor. You can get it online or Trader Joe’s has a great price when it’s available as a seasonal item around the December holidays. If you don’t have it, you can substitute with the same amount of vanilla extract.
- Baking Powder: This helps our cookies rise and gives them a nice texture, don’t forget this, and make sure you baking powder is fresh, within 6 months of opening is best!
How to Make Decorated Easter Sugar Cookies
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until it it light and creamy.
Add the orange juice and vanilla bean paste, mix well
Add the flour and baking powder and mix until it comes together into one ball of dough. Scrape down the sides to ensure that all the dry ingredients get incorporated well. It will be clumpy and sandy at first, keep mixing and scraping down the sides until it sticks together and is the same consistency throughout.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until firm, at least 1 hour. The longer you chill the easier it is to cut out the cookies and transfer them to the cookie sheet.
On a sheet of wax paper, roll out dough to ¼ inch thick. To do this, you can use a rolling pin which has thickness guides (they’re thick rubber bands that go onto the end of a handle-less rolling pin which only allow the dough to roll out to the desired thickness) or you can eyeball it. You want your cookies on the thicker side so that they balance the sugary royal icing well and so they don’t crack. A thinner cookie with brown more and be more crisp and a too thick cookie runs the risk of being under done. The most important part it to make all of your cookies as close to the same thickness as possible, so they bake in the same amount of time.
Cut out with cookie cutters of your choice, I’ve used carrot, bunny and flower shapes for my Easter theme. Press the cookie cutter firmly into the dough going all the way through. You can place multiple cookie cutters onto the same piece of dough and then pull up the leftover pieces around the cutter, this ensures you don’t accidentally rip your cookie shape. Then lift the cookie off the wax paper and place it onto an ungreased cookie sheet- I like to lift from underneath the wax paper and slowly peel the paper down so the cookie stays flat and it’s the paper that’s moving.
Once you’ve cut out all the cookies from the dough, squish the leftover bits into a big ball and roll them out again to cut out more cookies. If this ball gets too soft you’ll have a harder time removing the cookies from the wax paper, so stick the ball back in the plastic wrap and into the fridge for 10 minutes to let it firm up a bit more.
Make sure the cookies are not crowded on the cookie sheet as they will spread a little in the oven, I recommend 2 cookie sheets or 2 batches for this recipe. If you’re using the same cookie sheet, pop the remaining cut out cookies onto a plate and into the fridge while the first batch bake so they don’t warm up too much and loose their shape.
Bake at 375°F for 9 minutes, until just lightly brown. Cool completely before frosting.
For the Royal Icing, in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the water and meringue powder until soft peaks form- see photo below, when you lift up the whisk it should leave a trail of where it was in the mixture below and form a point coming off of the whisk. It is called a soft peak (vs a stiff peak) because it can easily be squished back into the mixture.
On low, add powdered sugar and beat until incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed
Add vanilla extract and mix well.
This is a medium consistency royal icing, you should be able to use this one icing to decorate your cookie. If you’d like it thinner/runnier add more water ¼ teaspoon at a time. If you’d like it thicker/stiffer add more powdered sugar.
Optional- add gel food coloring to color the icing to your desired color- for this set of cookies I used: Orange, Green, Pink, Brown and White.
Use piping bags with the tip of your choice to decorate your sugar cookies! I used the leaf tip with the green icing to make the tops of the carrots, a small round tip for the brown for carrot and bunny details, a petal tip with the pink for the bunny ears and cheek. And I used a little leftover white buttercream with a petal tip to achieve the layered look for the flower (note that’s a different frosting recipe that does not use meringue powder).
Easy Easter Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 110 g Unsalted Butter (room temperature, ½ cup)
- 110 g Granulated Sugar (½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon Orange Juice
- 1½ teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
- 160 g All Purpose Flour (1¼ cups)
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
For the Royal Icing
- 27 g Cold Water (2 tablespoons)
- 16 g Meringue Powder (5 teaspoons)
- 120 g Powdered Sugar (1 cup)
- ¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
For the Cookies
- With the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy
- Add the orange juice and vanilla extract, mix well
- Add the flour and baking powder and mix until it comes together into one ball of dough
- Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until firm, at least 1 hour
- Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick
- Cut out with cookie cutters of your choice, I’ve used a carrot, bunny and flower shape
- Bake at 375° for 9 minutes, until just lightly brown
- Cool completely before frosting
For the Royal Icing
- With the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, on medium, beat the water and meringue powder until soft peaks form
- On low, add powdered sugar and beat until incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed
- Add vanilla extract and mix well
- This is a medium consistency royal icing, you should be able to use this one icing to decorate your cookie. If you’d like it thinner/runnier add more water ¼ teaspoon at a time. If you’d like it thicker/stiffer add more powdered sugar.
- Optional- add gel food coloring to color the icing
- Use piping bags with the tip of your choice to decorate your sugar cookies!
