These soft and colorful frosted lemon Easter cookies are the perfect addition to your holiday party. Top with your favorite sprinkles!
Easter cookies made with fluffy lemon buttercream frosting is a delicious way to celebrate the holiday. Serve them with brown sugar glazed ham, roasted carrots, and air fryer asparagus!
Easter Cookies
Easter Cookies
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Easter Cookie Ingredients
- Butter – Unsalted, softened to room temperature.
- Sugar – White granulated sugar and light brown sugar.
- Egg – Large.
- Vanilla – Real vanilla extract.
- Flour – All purpose white flour.
- Salt – Normal table salt. Skip this if you use salted butter.
- Baking powder – Not baking soda!
- Lemon – Optional. Fresh lemon juice is best.
- Frosting – Butter, powdered sugar, lemon (optional), food coloring, sprinkles.
Gather your ingredients before you begin baking!
How do you make frosted Easter cookies? (step-by-step)
⭐ First, in a large bowl cream together the butter and both sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon juice. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. The dough will be very crumbly.
⭐ Next, divide the dough form each portion into a ball. Just until it comes together. Chill.
⭐ Then, bake until the cookies are just turning golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
⭐ Finally, use an electric mixer to whip the butter until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar and beat. Add in the lemon juice. Divide and color as desired. Pipe frosting onto cookies and finish with sprinkles.
Scroll down to the printable recipe card toward the bottom of this article for ingredient measurements and detailed cooking instructions.
The dough will be crumbly, that’s okay!
Preparation
Can you make Easter cookies ahead of time?
Yes! You can make and bake the cookies a few days ahead, or prep by making the dough in advance and keeping it in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to bake.
What kind of frosting for frosted Easter cookies?
We use a simple lemon buttercream frosting recipe for these cookies but they’d also be delicious with cream cheese frosting or raspberry buttercream frosting.
Use your favorite pastels for the frosting.
Storage and leftovers
How long do Easter cookies last?
These will keep 3- 4 days in the refrigerator or longer in the freezer. You can keep them at room temperature, but they’re best if kept in the refrigerator so they stay chewy.
Can you freeze Easter cookies?
Yes! To freeze the baked cookies, allow them to cool completely then store in a freezer safe air-tight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
To freeze the dough, form into balls and roll in dough, then place in a freezer safe airtight container and separate layers with parchment paper.
We used a 1mm tip, but you can also spread the frosting with a knife.
Tips & tricks
✅ Make sure not to overbake. In fact, these cookies should be just slightly under-baked so they stay soft and chewy on the inside.
✅ Bake on a lined baking sheet (with a silicone mat or parchment paper) or use a well greased cookie sheet (I prefer silpat!) to make sure the cookies don’t stick.
✅ Refrigerate the cookies to keep them chewy.
✅ Make it easier by frosting them all one color or even keep the frosting white.
✅ Don’t have a piping bag with a tip? Just cut off the tip of a gallon ziploc bag and use that to pipe (or spread the buttercream on with a knife)!
Top with your favorite Easter sprinkles!
Frequently asked questions
How long to bake soft cookies?
Soft sugar cookies and chewy sugar cookies are the best! Make sure you bake them to just barely done so they get the perfect texture. If they’ve browned you’ve left them in too long.
Add some flare
Roll your cookies in colored sugar or sprinkles for a fun look and some added texture. Or add a drop or two of food coloring to the dough!
This recipe makes 6 very large cookies but you can divide the dough into smaller cookies too.
What to eat with homemade Easter cookies (serving suggestions)
Enjoy these cookies after a yummy Easter dinner of crockpot ham, roasted asparagus, quick dinner rolls, and lemon pie!
Do you leave cookies out for the Easter bunny?
More yummy Easter recipes
We add lemon to this recipe but you can skip it and make a sugar cookie version.
Other awesome cookies to try
- Sugar cookie recipe
- Sprinkle cookies
- Shortbread cookies
- Chewy chocolate chip cookies
- Easy peanut butter cookies
- See all our yummy cookie recipes!
Make it easier by keeping the icing white and topping with colorful sprinkles.
Tools we love
- Baking sheets – This set is perfect, we use them for everything from roasting, to baking, and even serving.
- Silicone baking mats – I always always always line with these, nothing sticks!
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How to Make Easter Cookies
Easter Cookies
Ingredients
COOKIES
- ½ cup butter unsalted , softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- juice of half of a lemon optional (substitute 1½ tablespoons of water or milk if omitting)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
FROSTING
- 2 sticks butter unsalted, softened
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- juice of half a lemon optional (substitute 1½ tablespoons of water or milk if omitting)
- pastel food coloring
- Easter sprinkles
Instructions
- In a large bowl cream together the butter and both sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and lemon juice. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined. The dough will be very crumbly.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and form each portion into a ball. Just until it comes together. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Bake the cookies at 350° for 15-18 minutes. You want the edges to just be golden brown, & we want the cookies to stay chewy. Cool 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies are baking make the frosting. Using an electric mixer whip the butter until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar and beat to combine. Add in the juice of half a lemon.
- Divide the buttercream into 3-4 bowls and color each one with pastel food coloring. Place the buttercream in a piping bag spreading each color on the side of the bag.
- Using a 1mm round tip pipe the buttercream around the top of the cookies. Top with Easter sprinkles.
Notes
Nutrition
Easter Cookies
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Dana says
Yum! I love these chewy cookies, and the whipped buttercream frosting is just delicious. Will definitely make these again!
Kara says
I love lemon, so I added some zest to the cookie dough. Delicious! My daughter and I had fun decorating the cookies with cute Easter sprinkles. We will be making them again to share with everyone for Easter. 🙂
Natasha says
Yummy! These are the best easter cookies ever, so chewy and soft even the next day. Will definitely be making this again and again.
Gina says
We loved the tender crumble of the cookie paired with the zing of lemon in the frosting. They were gone super fast!
Erin says
Absolutely yummy! Can’t wait to make this again!
Catalina says
Your Easter Cookies recipe was the perfect activity for the weekend. I made them with my nieces, and we had so much fun decorating them.
Sandra says
These cookies are so cute and yummy! Definitely making a big batch for Easter!
Katerina Petrovska says
These are amazing! They’re not only adorable but also incredibly tasty. Perfect for Easter!
Janelle says
These cookies turned out soooo good! Thanks!