16 Truly Exceptional Easter Cookie Recipes

By Emily Goldman
Updated February 25, 2020
Marcus Nilsson
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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Credit: Marcus Nilsson

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. And as 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 our decadent Bird's Nest Cookies. Not only do they taste amazing, but they also look lovely placed inside of a homemade Easter basket. You'll want to make a batch for yourself and one to share with your friends.

Take your classic Easter desserts up a notch and create a number of our decorative Easter cookies. After feasting on a glorious baked ham or leg of lamb, serve Lemon-Ginger Cookies with Mint as a tasty palate cleanser. For an artful option, lay out a plate of our pastel-hued Marbleized Easter Eggs or our adorable Easter Chicks, which use simple shortbread and sugar cookie dough as the vessel for the enchanting icing designs. If hand-painted projects are not your forte, go for a dessert with a powerful flavor profile, like that of our Carrot-Cake Thumbprint treats, which take the traditional recipe and add a surprising ingredient: goat cheese.

Whether you're searching for a yummy dessert or a fun family-friendly activity, baking Easter cookies is a joy-filled way to pass the time. Ahead, choose one or many of these delicious treats to make for the very special Sunday.

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Easter Chick Cookies

Credit: Chelsea Cavanaugh
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Lemon shortbread cookies become adorable chicks and eggs with the help of sanding sugar, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, and candy.

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Flower Sugar Cookie

Credit: Burca Avsar
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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

Credit: Aaron Dyer
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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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Carrot-Cake Thumbprint Cookies

Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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This recipe combines the flavors of classic carrot cake into a convenient handheld package. Goat cheese adds a touch of sophistication to the cream cheese center.

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Painted Egg Cookies

Credit: Gentl and Hyers
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Egg-shaped sugar cookies get a vibrant coat of color thanks to a highly pigmented yolk wash.

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Little Lamb Cookies

Credit: Tara Donne
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Mary had a little lamb whose icing was as white as snow (or pink, if you prefer) thanks to a glittery sprinkling of sanding sugar.

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Easter Egg Puzzle Cookies

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We've hatched a new way to decorate and hunt for eggs, using our clever cookie-puzzle technique. Cut oval shapes out of sugar-cookie dough, "break" them into pieces after baking, and finish with pastel royal icing and sanding sugar.

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Poppy-Shaped Lemon Cookies

Credit: Ditte Isager
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Royal icing and poppy seeds are all you need to transform lemony butter cookies into a bouquet of poppies.

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Sugar Cookie Bunnies

Credit: Mikkel Vang
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Bring the Easter Bunny to the table with these rabbit-shaped sweets. Adults and children alike will love the classic cookie, and you'll love the simple recipe.

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Marbleized Easter Egg Cookies

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It's easier than you think to transform plain oval sugar cookies into marbleized masterpieces.

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Lemon-Ginger Cookies with Mint

Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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Crystallized ginger gives a sweet heat to these lemon sugar cookies; fresh mint imparts a cool zing.

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Spring Flower Sugar Cookies

Credit: Johnny Miller and Raymond Hom
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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. Make them again for a Mother's Day treat.

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Orange Madeleines

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Madeleines are shell-shaped, cakey cookies and a traditional French treat. Here, the buttery bites are flavored with orange-flower water and orange zest for a more grown-up Easter bite.

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Lemon Icebox Cookies

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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 in the freezer up to a month ahead of time.

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Bird's Nest Cookies

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These thin chocolate cookies with ganache icing dipped into grated coconut make the perfect nests for two or three miniature chocolate eggs.

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Martha's Easter Sugar Cookies

Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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As beautiful as they are delicious, these carefully iced confections are sure to bring a smile to everyone's face. Choose any color icing you'd like to make these truly your own.

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