Description
Soft Easter Sugar Cookies decorated with colorful royal icing to resemble cute Peeps bunnies. These cookies have a tender texture and are beautifully adorned with multiple colors of icing, perfect for festive celebrations and gifting during Easter.
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 batch Christmas sugar cookie dough (recipe not included)
Icing
- 1 batch sugar cookie icing (covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel)
- Food coloring: Betty Crocker yellow, neon purple, neon pink; Wilton sky blue and black icing colors
- Milk (small amount to thin icing)
Instructions
- Prepare and Bake Cookies: Roll out the prepared sugar cookie dough to your desired thickness and bake as instructed in the original dough recipe. Once baked, allow the cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating.
- Color the Icing: Starting with your first chosen color, scoop out one-quarter of the icing into a small bowl. Stir in the corresponding food coloring thoroughly, then cover to prevent drying.
- Outline the Cookies: Cut the tip off a piping bag and insert the desired piping tip. Fill the bag halfway with the colored icing (this will be your outline icing). Twist the end to keep the icing from spilling and pipe around the edges of each cookie, keeping the line a short distance from the edge to ensure adherence.
- Finish Outlining: When completing the outline, gently release the pressure on the piping bag while pulling the tip upwards away from the cookie to create a clean end. Repeat for all cookies with this color icing.
- Flood the Cookies: Add a small amount of milk to the remaining colored icing in the bowl to thin it to a flood consistency. Transfer this flood icing to an icing bottle or a piping bag with the tip removed. Carefully fill the inside area of each cookie within the outlined border. Use a toothpick or stir needle to evenly spread the icing and remove air bubbles.
- Dry and Repeat: Place the iced cookies on a cookie sheet to dry. Repeat the process of coloring, outlining, and flooding with each icing color, leaving about 2 tablespoons of colored icing aside in a covered bowl.
- Add Facial Details: Mix black food coloring into the reserved 2 tablespoons of icing and place into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton #3 tip. Use this black icing to pipe a nose by lightly touching the icing to the bunny's head center and lifting straight up to form a circle. Then pipe two eyes above the nose for each cookie.
- Final Drying: Allow the decorated cookies to dry completely on a cookie sheet covered loosely with foil at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight. Once dry, cookies can be served, packaged, stored in airtight containers, or frozen for later enjoyment.
Notes
- Ensure cookies are completely cool before decorating to prevent icing from melting.
- Thin icing with milk gradually to avoid making it too runny.
- Keep unused icing covered tightly to prevent drying out during the decorating process.
- Use a toothpick or stir needle to smooth out flood icing and remove air bubbles for a polished finish.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week or frozen for longer storage.
- Allow ample drying time to avoid smudged decorations or damaged icing.
