15 Easter Cookie Recipes That Celebrate the Arrival of Spring
From chicks to classic egg shapes, we're sharing a variety of Easter cookies guaranteed to add something sweet to your holiday celebration.
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A celebration of both religious traditions and the arrival of spring, Easter festivities include some of the best things in life: family and food. An easy way to incorporate the two is by baking Easter cookies with those you love most. As Easter is one of the first times of the year when it's finally warm enough to enjoy outdoor activities like gardening or a traditional Easter egg hunt, use nature as your inspiration and create something unique like Martha's Easter Sugar Cookies, pictured here. Not only do they taste amazing, but they also look lovely placed inside a homemade Easter basket.
After feasting on a glorious baked ham or leg of lamb, you'll want something sweet to finish off your meal. The recipes in this collection will tap into your creative side; some of our Easter cookies require painting to bring the symbols of spring, like flowers, chicks, and lambs, to life. If this isn't your forte, we also feature a handful of straightforward Easter cookie recipes that play on traditional spring flavors, including Lemon Madeleines, Lemon Icebox Cookies, and Carrot Cake Thumbprint Cookies.
Whether you're searching for something different for dessert or a fun family-friendly activity, baking Easter cookies is a joy-filled way to pass the time. Choose one or many of these delicious treats to make for the very special Sunday.
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Watercolor Easter Bunny Cookies
As fun to make as they are delicious, rabbit and carrot-shaped sugar cookies are frosted with royal icing and painted with a bright mixture of luster dust and water. Make it a family activity—like dying Easter eggs—by letting your kids help decorate.
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Easter Chick Cookies
Lemon shortbread cookies become adorable chicks and eggs with the help of sanding sugar, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, and candy.
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Embellished Wreath Cookies
Take classic sugar cookies to special-occasion status with a simple glaze and stunning combination of candied flowers, crystallized ginger, and chopped pistachios.
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Flower Sugar Cookie
Use pink food coloring and kitchen shears to give sugar cookies blush-hued "petals" and finish with round candies for the centers.
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Bunny Cookies
Impress guests of all ages with these bite-size rabbit-shaped cookies. No special tools needed—just kitchen shears and a toothpick for a quick snip and poke.
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Pastel Butter Cookies
These gorgeously-hued treats are almond shortbread cookies finished with tinted powdered sugar. It's made by blending equal parts fruit with confectioners sugar in a food processor.
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Carrot-Cake Thumbprint Cookies
The flavors of classic carrot cake are combined into a convenient handheld package. Use cream cheese or go with goat cheese for a touch of sophistication in the thumbprint center.
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Lemon Madeleines
These tangy delights have a citrus aroma that will pleasantly fill your kitchen. Serve them as a light dessert with fresh fruit or on their own at teatime.
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Painted Egg Cookies
Egg-shaped sugar cookies get a vibrant coat of color when they're brushed with a highly pigmented yolk wash.
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Little Lamb Cookies
Mary had a little lamb whose icing was as white as snow (or pink, if you prefer) and glittery, too, thanks to a sprinkling of sanding sugar.
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Sugar Cookie Bunnies
Bring the Easter Bunny to the table with these rabbit-shaped sweets. Everyone will love the classic cookie, and you'll love the simple recipe.
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Lemon-Ginger Cookies with Mint
Crystallized ginger gives a sweet heat to these lemon sugar cookies while fresh mint imparts a cool zing.
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Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
Spring plants don't grow any sweeter than these flower-and-mushroom-shaped sugar cookies that are baked atop wooden skewers. Plant them in an Easter basket or in a tabletop bed of wheatgrass.
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Lemon Icebox Cookies
Tart lemon cookies make an easy and satisfying treat, and they're easy to fit into your Easter preparations. You can make the dough and store it in the freezer up to a month ahead of time.
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Bird's Nest Cookies
Rich ganache is piped over thin chocolate cookies and sprinkled with coconut to mimic the appearance of bird's nests. Top with two or three miniature chocolate eggs to complete the illusion.