Michelle Darmody: How to bake Easter cookies - and the mistakes to avoid

Pic: iStock

Needless to say, these cookies can be made at any time of year, but they work particularly well when decorated for Easter or other festive occasions. 

There are a few variations included that allow the recipe to be adapted and make it more versatile.

Dusting the warm cookies in vanilla sugar is a nice alternative to icing. If you do decide to ice the cookies you can make your own piping bags. I use freezer or sandwich bags and snip a tiny piece off the tip. 

To make one, sit the bag into a cup with one corner of the bag pointing down. Open the bag out so that it is easy to fill, then spoon the icing into the bag. Push the icing into one corner to form a cone-like shape. Tie an elastic band tightly so that the cone of icing is firm. Snip a really small hole in the tip of the cone. 

You can always snip a little more and widen this, but once you make an opening too big there is no going back, so it is best to err on the side of caution.

There are quite a lot of videos online that will give you simple tutorials on how to ice a cookie. I start by drawing a line with my chosen colour around the edge of the cookie and allow this to sit for a few seconds to firm up slightly. I then fill the shape in with the same colour icing. After this layer has hardened you can draw any decoration or detail with a different colour.

This recipe makes a generous number of cookies. The dough freezes quite well if you would like to put some of it away for a later date, and it also will last about three days wrapped up in the fridge.

Easter cookies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This recipe makes a generous number of cookies.

Servings

20

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 8 mins

Total Time

 38 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the cookies

• 500g plain flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 200g butter

• 200g caster sugar

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• For the icing

• 1 fresh egg white,

• lightly beaten

• 150g of icing sugar

• a few drops of lemon juice to thin the icing to piping consistency

• some food colouring of your choice - I use natural colours

• sturdy plastic sandwich or freezer bags

• elastic bands

Method

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder together and set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, lemon juice and vanilla.

3. Combine the flour into the mixture with a wooden spoon. When the dough is coming together, take it out of the mixing bowl, knead lightly into a ball and wrap it in baking parchment. Leave it in the fridge for at least one hour to firm up.

4. Line two flat baking trays with parchment and preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

5. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it to about 3-4 mm in thickness. Cut out your shapes and place then onto the prepared baking trays.

6. Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes. They should be a very pale golden colour when you take them out of the oven. Once they have cooled enough to handle put them on a wire rack to cool completely.

7. To make the icing beat the icing sugar and egg white at a low setting on a mixer. Turn up the setting when combined and whisk until fairly stiff.

8. Dilute the icing with lemon juice, one drop at a time as needed, it should be the consistency of thick paint and should hold its shape when piped or brushed onto a cookie and pipe with ease through a small hole in the piping bag.
   
   NOTE: There is raw egg used in the recipe. If you would prefer to use a pasteurised powdered egg white, such as Meri-White, add 10g of powder and whisk it with 50mls of warm water until foamy. Fresh eggs are generally safe to use but if someone is infirm, pregnant or very young and will be eating the cookies then powder is a good alternative.

Tips to bake the perfect Easter Cookies

There are hundreds of different shape cutters available. If you are using a variety of shapes it is good to try and keep them to a similar size. This will help the cookies to bake at the same speed and stop some over baking while others are too pale.

If the cookies are too hard and you would like to soften them a little, add a piece of apple to your storage container and close it for an hour or so. It will soften your cookies.

If you would like to serve your iced cookies straight away, you can dry them in the still-warm oven to harden the icing. Otherwise, the icing will harden in an hour or so on a wire rack at room temperature.

Allowing the cookies to firm up in the fridge before baking will stop them spreading as they bake and will also give a crisper result.

Cookies or biscuits should not be stored in the same container as cakes because they will absorb the moisture from the cakes and begin to soften.

To make a sturdier cookie for children to decorate, you can roll the dough a little thicker and bake them for an extra two minutes. Adding toppings such as sprinkles or edible glitter to a layer of icing is an easier option than drawing.

Variations

Vanilla Hearts

Vanilla icing sugar can be made by slicing two vanilla pods in half lengthwise and then covering them with about 150g of icing sugar. I leave this in an airtight jar at the back of the cupboard and use it after a month or so. If you make the heart cookies dust them in the vanilla icing sugar soon after you take them from the oven, while they are still warm.

Citrus cookies

A mixture of lime, orange and lemon zest really adds zing and flavour to the cookie dough. Add the zest of 1 lemon, 1 lime and half of a medium orange to the dough before you add the flour.

Chocolate-dipped black sesame cookies

Add 1 tbsp of black sesame seeds to the dough before adding the flour. After the cookies have cooled melt about 180g of dark chocolate and dip half of each cookie into the chocolate. Allow them to cool on a greased baking tray.

Rosemary and white chocolate

This combination works very well. Chop about a half a tablespoon of fresh rosemary leaves. Chop them very finely and add them to the dough when you are adding the flour. Bake according to the recipe and then melt 200g of white chocolate. When the cookies have cooled down dip the cookies in the white chocolate and allow it to harden on a greased baking tray.