Decorated Easter Egg Cookies

Decorated Easter Egg Cookies are a fun and festive way to celebrate the season—and they actually have more meaning than you might think!

Eggs have symbolized new life and rebirth for centuries, which makes them a perfect match for Easter. So while you’re piping those pretty pastels, you’re also carrying on a tradition that’s been around a lot longer than plastic eggs and chocolate bunnies.

decorated easter egg cookies decorated with royal icing

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These Decorated Easter Egg Cookies come from this Meaning of Easter set, which includes:

Check out this post to learn more about creating the full set! And the background research on the Easter holiday itself is included in the main post for the set.

easter sugar cookies decorated with royal icing

Before we talk about how to make this cookie, I’d like to share some of the research that I conducted around the symbolism behind this design (more research/background information is shared within each individual post for this Meaning of Easter set). I do this research to educate myself on the holiday to better inform my designs (I have a series of cookie sets that celebrate diverse holidays). Feel free to skip ahead if you want to get straight to the decorating!

Did you know eggs have real significance in Easter traditions? I always thought they were just for hunts and candy, but it turns out they were once forbidden during Lent—so people saved them up and ate them at Easter. Eggs also symbolize new life and resurrection, which ties in beautifully with the meaning of the holiday. Decorating them started with red dye to represent Christ’s sacrifice, and chocolate eggs came later in 19th-century France and Germany.

Before we get into the specifics of this cookie, if you’re brand new to royal icing I’d recommend starting with my foundation post: What is Royal Icing?

And if you’d like more detailed prep instructions and a private class video specific to the set of cookies you’re making, definitely check out my online cookie decorating classes!

Now, let’s get started with these Decorated Easter Egg Cookies!

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How to Make These Decorated Easter Egg Cookies
Step-by-Step Decorating Instructions

How to Make These Decorated Easter Egg Cookies

I recommend breaking up the cookie decorating process into a several day affair. Decorating an entire set of cookies with royal icing from start to finish is not something you can accomplish in a few hours, and would be challenging (if not impossible for some) to complete in a full day of working.

Step 1: Purchase All Supplies, Ingredients, Tools etc Needed

Click here for a list of all basic baking/cookie decorating supplies

Keep in mind that some of these products are sourced from small businesses (especially the cookie cutters), and may take up to a couple of weeks to arrive.

Cookie cutter:

Egg (3.5″)

Food Coloring:

Click here for links to basic sets of gel food coloring colors from Wilton, Chefmaster, Americolor and Artisan Accents (search “gel colors” in post).

Color Palette

The color palette for this cookie is taken from the full set color palette below. The colors used in this cookie are:

I made these eggs for this set in 4 different colors.

White
Brown
Taupe
Yellow

Tools + decorations you’ll need for this set:

Tipless Piping Bags
Scissors (small and sharp)
Paper towels
Toothpick or scribe – for general use
Gel coloring (from food coloring list): brown
Any dry fluffy paint brush – from this set (4)
Tiny detail paint brush – from this set (1)
Color solution (or Everclear or high proof vodka) – optional
Cornstarch

The different brushes used for this set are marked by numbers 1-5.

paint brushes used to decorated easter sugar cookies

Helpful posts on tools, equipment + decorations:

Step 2: Bake the Cookies

I recommend baking the cookies up to 2 days before you plan to decorate. Store uniced cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 1 week before icing.

Check out my cookie recipe here.

Helpful posts when baking the cookies:

Step 3: Prep the Icing for Decorating

Start this process up to 24-48 hours before decorating.

Check out my icing recipe here.

I recommend breaking up the icing prep into two days:

Day before: make fresh icing, divide the icing into bowls labeled for each color, and do an initial phase of coloring the icing (keeping in mind that color develops/darkens over time–read here for more specifics on color development to prevent color bleed)
Morning of (no more than a couple hours before decorating): final adjustments to color and thin the icing to desired consistencies

Colors & consistencies you’ll need for this set:

Click here for a post on how to figure out how much royal icing you need.

To achieve these muted/dulled colors: after mixing all of the colors, make sure you add a small amount (start with a pea-sized or smaller) amount of each color to each color (except for the white). This will create a unified color harmony and will take away any brightness from the colors as you’ll be adding colors from the opposite side of the color wheel to each other. Just make sure not to add too much! Start with a small amount and go from there.

White – just white
- Soft peak piping consistency – err on the THICKER side if unsure
- Thin flood – err on the THINNER side if unsure
Taupe – use a toothpick to combine equal parts brown + ivory, plus a tiny tiny bit of black
- Soft peak piping consistency – err on the THICKER side if unsure
- Thin flood – err on the THINNER side if unsure
Brown – just brown
- Soft peak piping consistency – err on the THICKER side if unsure
- Thin flood – err on the THINNER side if unsure
Yellow – lemon yellow + tiniest bit of red (or just use an egg/golden yellow straight from the bottle)
- Soft peak piping consistency – err on the THICKER side if unsure
- Thin flood – err on the THINNER side if unsure

Helpful resources on the basics of royal icing:

Helpful resources for icing consistency:

Helpful resources for coloring icing:

Helpful resources for bagging and cutting tipless bags:

Step 4: Decorate!

Now it’s time to finally decorate! I know, it’s been a process to get here, but you’re finally here. Hoorah!

You might even want to start out with a practice sheet before you start with your cookies! If you need help navigating these practice sheets, definitely check out one of my online classes.

Quick video of the cookie:

Sped up satisfying version of the entire set on YouTube:

Step-by-step video tutorial with voiceover (skip to time stamp for specific cookie):

Helpful resources for the decorating process:

How to hold tipless bags:

Line the SEAM up with your knuckles
Line the top of the bag up with the top of your hand
Hold the bag from the TOP with just your pointer and thumb
Wrap the rest of your fingers around the bag

How to cut tipless bags (Check out this video starting at time stamp 7:03):

Hold the bag with the SEAM up
Squeeze the bag to gently fluff up the tip of the bag (do NOT squeeze the tip of the bag as that will create another fold)
Cut STRAIGHT across with sharp scissors (any uneven cuts/jagged cuts can result in icing coming out of the bag in a squiggle as it snags the excess plastic along the way)
Approximate amounts to cut:
- Outline/piping consistency: 4-6mm
- Flood: 5-7mm

Helpful resources when you’re done decorating:

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Step-by-Step Decorating Instructions: Decorated Easter Egg Cookies

Step 1: Outline

Note: this cookie was made in three different colors (yellow, taupe, white and brown). So make yours in whatever color(s) you want! This post includes photos of the brown egg and the instructions here are using the yellow egg as an example.

Use yellow soft peak piping consistency to outline the egg. Allow to dry for 10-15 minutes until the icing has crusted.

how to decorate decorated easter egg cookies with royal icing

Step 2: Flood

Use yellow thin flood consistency to flood the egg. Allow to dry for at least 1-2 hours until the icing is completely smooth to the touch.

Step 3: Splatter

Thin chocolate brown gel coloring with color solution (or Everclear or high proof vodka). If you’re in a pinch, you can use water (but sometimes thinning with water can pit the icing after it dries). Dip the small detail brush in the brown and splatter on the cookie. I like to hold the brush firmly with one hand and then firmly tap with the other.

Tip: do this on top of a paper towel so that clean up is easier 🙂

FINAL COOKIE

Please refer to these posts for more information on the full set and decorating each cookie in the set:

***RECIPE CARD: SINGLE COOKIE SHORTCODE***