Marbled Easter Egg Sugar Cookie Cutouts Recipes

MARBLED EASTER EGG SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• In large bowl, mix cookie mix, flour, butter and egg with spoon until soft dough forms. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Place pieces of dough into 4 small bowls. Tint 1 bowl blue, 1 bowl pink, 1 bowl purple and 1 bowl yellow by stirring in each food color.
• On floured surface, drop tablespoons of each dough in random pattern to make large rectangle. Dough pieces should be just touching together. Push dough rectangle toward center on all sides to make 7x6-inch rectangle. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick to create marbled pattern. Cut with 3-inch egg-shaped cookie cutter; place cutouts 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with sugar. Press any leftover scraps together, and reroll on floured surface to make more cookies.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

EASTER EGG SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• For the sugar dough: Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Beat together the vanilla and egg in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar and confectioners' sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl using a rubber spatula as needed.
• Reduce the speed to low again, slowly pour in the egg mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, beating until combined after each and increasing the speed as the dough gets thicker to keep the beaters spinning. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters as needed. Once all the flour is just incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the dough is very smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and bring it together. Divide into 2 even pieces. Shape each piece into a flat square and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours or overnight.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Dust another sheet of parchment with flour and put 1 dough piece on top. Dust with more flour and top with another sheet of parchment. Roll the dough out between the parchment sheets into a square about 1/4 inch thick (and about 11 by 9 inches) and place in the freezer for 5 minutes. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough.
• Working with 1 dough sheet at a time, cut out cookies with a 2 1/2- by 2 2/4-inch Easter egg cookie cutter and arrange on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Refrigerate while you cut the remaining cookies. Reroll any scraps of dough and repeat the freezing, cutting and refrigerating process until all the dough is used. Repeat with the remaining dough sheet.
• Bake, rotating the baking sheets front to back and bottom to top about halfway through, until cookies are golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets set on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.
• For the icing: Meanwhile, sift the confectioners' sugar into a large bowl. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until the icing is thick enough to show the line of the whisk that disappears within about 8 seconds.
• Place 3 tablespoons white icing in each of 3 separate bowls. Tint each a different color and cover with plastic wrap (see Cook's Note). Place 1/4 cup white icing in another bowl, covering the remaining white icing with plastic wrap so it does not dry out. Drizzle one of the colored icings (about 1 tablespoon) onto the 1/4 cup white icing and swirl with a toothpick.
• Next, dip the surface of a cookie in the swirled icing and remove slowly, allowing any excess to drip off. Shake the cookie over the bowl of icing to remove any excess. Gently smooth the icing with a toothpick to fill in any gaps, if necessary. Place the finished cookies on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Use the tip of the toothpick to pop any bubbles that appear. Drizzle more colored icing as needed. Repeat this process with the next 2 colors and the remaining white icing until all the cookies are decorated. Let set for 30 minutes. Store single layers of cookies, with parchment in between, in a tightly sealed container for up to 1 week.

MARBLED SUGAR COOKIE CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F.
• In large bowl, mix cookie mix, flour, melted butter and egg with spoon until soft dough forms. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Place 2 pieces of dough into 2 small bowls. Tint 1 bowl green, 1 bowl red by stirring in food colors.
• On floured surface, drop scant tablespoons of each dough in random pattern to make large rectangle. Dough pieces should be just touching together.
• Push dough toward center on all sides to make 6x5-inch rectangle. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick to create marbled pattern. Cut with 3-inch cookie cutters. Lightly press back of cookie spatula in flour, and slide under cookie dough; place cutouts 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Press any leftover scraps together, and reroll on floured surface to make more cookies.
• Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

MARBLEIZED EASTER EGG COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
• Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough between two pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch thick. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Cut out cookies with a 6-inch fluted egg-shaped cookie cutter. Transfer cookie dough on plastic wrap to a baking sheet. Transfer baking sheet to freezer; freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes. Remove baking sheet from freezer and transfer shapes to baking sheets lined with nonstick baking mats. Roll out scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
• Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
• Divide royal icing evenly among three small bowls. Color each portion of icing with desired shade of food coloring, stirring with a toothpick to combine. Transfer each color of icing to a separate small squirt bottle. Using the colored icing, decorate according to template instructions.

MARTHA'S EASTER SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and cognac until well combined. Add flour mixture; beat on low until just combined. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough evenly and shape into 2 disks; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 45 minutes and up to 5 days.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate until very firm, about 30 minutes, or freeze 10 minutes. Stamp out shapes. Transfer cutouts to prepared sheets, about 1 inch apart. Reroll scraps; stamp out more shapes and transfer to sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes, or freeze 10 minutes. Bake until set and golden around edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Royal Icing: In a bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, egg whites, and 2 teaspoons lemon juice until smooth. If necessary, add more lemon juice or confectioners' sugar to reach desired consistency. Divide and tint with gel-paste colors as desired. Pour some into squeeze bottles for detailing.