Iced Biscuits - Easter Cookie Cutter and Decorate

You're looking for yummy Easter baking ideas. These Easter Cookies are easy to make and decorate into cut out iced biscuits.

It is an enjoyable creative activity with the kids; they will love decorating sugar cookie cutouts. Make bunny, chick, lamb, butterfly and Easter egg cut out biscuits and decorate them with royal icing.

They have a buttery and a sweet shortbread taste and a slightly crumbly texture; the kids love these sugar cookies. Perfect for Easter treats, homemade gifts, or used during the egg hunt.

How to make Iced Biscuits

Press the button to jump straight to the recipe to create these iced biscuits from scratch.

Continue to read for more advice and suitable substitutions

Easter Cookie Ingredients

To make iced biscuits, which keep their shape during cooking, you need simple ingredients. We will let you know of possible substitutes or modifications below.

Butter

It is important to use room temperature unsalted butter to make it easier to cream the sugar and butter together. 

Do not melt the butter as it will change the texture and make the biscuits spread too much during baking, ruining the cookie-cutter shape.

Sugar

We use white granulated sugar; however, caster sugar is a suitable substitute.

Egg

We used a large egg; you will not need to add as much flour if using a medium egg. 

Vanilla Extract

Adding vanilla extract makes a sweet vanilla flavour biscuit; you can add other flavourings such as almond, lemon, rose or caramel flavouring. Or use a very finely grated citrus peel for a fresh zing.

Plain flour

Add the flour in small amounts until the dough is no longer sticky. You may not use all the flour stated in the recipe card; use leftover flour on the work surface and rolling pin.

Self Raising Flour Substitute

If you want to substitute the plain flour with self-raising flour, you will not need to add any baking powder, as it already contains some.

Baking Powder

Baking powder is used with plain flour to help to create a light biscuit texture without puffing too much.

Biscuit Dough Texture

When it is too hard to combine with the spoon, tip out onto a clean lightly floured surface.

The final texture of the biscuit dough should be similar to playdoh, easy to shape and soft. 

Don't handle the dough with your hands too much; the warmth from your hands will melt the butter.

Chill Cookie Dough before Cutting

When you're using cookie cutters to shape your biscuits, it's essential to chill the dough first before rolling.

This helps with clean cuts and keep the biscuit's shape when you transfer it to a baking sheet to bake it and also helps stop it from spreading during cooking.

I like to split the dough into 3 equal-sized balls and place them into plastic wrap or a bag in the fridge to chill.

Each ball will make about 12 mini cookies each. If you are using larger cookie cutters then they will obviously make less!

So in all this recipe will make 36 mini easter cookies ready to be decorated with coloured icing. These iced biscuits are perfect for school cake sales at Easter time in the UK.

Dough Storage

You do not have to prepare all of the Easter cookies on the same day. The biscuit dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Alternatively, you can store it in the freezer for up to three months. 

Let the dough thaw in the fridge overnight before using it. Make ahead ready to go Easter treats when the grandchildren arrive.

Tools

You do not need any expensive tools for this iced biscuit recipe - we mixed it all by hand - you can use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together quicker.

Rolling Pin

A rolling pin is needed to roll out the chilled cookie dough to about ¼ inch. 

It is best to roll onto parchment paper to make it easier to turn between each roll without it becoming stuck to the work surface. And easier to transfer the cut biscuit shape to a baking tray.

Lightly flour the rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking to it.

Easter Cookie Cutters

Are you looking for Easter cookie cutters? We’ve got you covered! 

We got our Easter Cookie Cutters from Amazon; as seen in this blog post, they have super cute designs and come with an embossed stamp, which helps give the cookies some character and the perfect guidelines to help with the decorating. 

We used the easter egg, butterfly, chick, lamb and bunny cookie cutters to make our Easter shaped iced biscuits come alive!

There are plenty of other options available too.

Transfer the Easter cookie shapes onto a baking tray keeping them well spaced.

Remould the leftover dough and roll again to cut some more, repeat until all biscuit dough is used.

Cook one baking sheet at a time for the best even cooking.

Biscuit Cooking Time

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan / 190°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5 

Bake the Easter biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven for 8-10 minutes. 

Remove when you can see tiny cracks on the biscuit surface; they will not change colour much, only turning slightly golden on the edges; they should still feel soft in the centre.

The biscuits will firm up during cooling.

Cooling

Place the easter cookies to cool on a wire rack, leave to cool completely. 

This will take at least 15 minutes. 

During this time you cook the next batch of 12 cookies or start preparing the royal icing.

Royal Icing Ingredients

Royal icing sugar is the easiest to use if you can find it as it only needs water added to your desired consistency. 

If you can’t find this then you will need the following ingredients to make your own royal icing using pasteurised egg whites.

Icing Sugar

Use icing sugar to make royal icing; it is a very fine sugar that dissolves quickly — also known as powdered sugar.

Pasteurised Egg Whites

There is a low risk of salmonella using egg whites, so it is best to use pasteurised egg whites when making royal icing. 

You can buy these from the chilled section of the supermarket. The brand we use is called Two Chicks. 

Cream of tartar

Cream of tartar is an acidic powder used in royal icing to stabilise egg whites and prevent it from crystallising. You can substitute cream of tartar with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.

Royal Icing Consistency

The really important part of icing biscuits with royal icing is the consistency of the icing sugar. The best way I can describe the texture is like toothpaste!

Thick enough to hold its shape for a few seconds but spreadable.

Food Colouring

When it comes to food colourings, they are not all created equally. Some are more potent than others, so you will need less to get the desired effect. 

The liquid ones are weaker and not best for royal icing as the amount needed will change the texture.

Gel paste colouring is more potent, so you will not need much. It also doesn't fade as much over time, meaning your icing will look just as bright on the day after you make it as it does when you first decorate the biscuits.

I highly recommend Wilton icing colours; they come in a wide range of bright and pastel colours and are effortless to use. You only need a few drops to create an intense colour.

How to decorate biscuits with Royal Icing

It's time to get creative and start decorating your Easter biscuits!

Decorating tools for icing biscuits vary depending on how simple or detailed you want to make your finished Easter cookie.

We have not used piping bags to show you how to decorate Easter cookies without piping, as seen in the images in this blog post. 

Transfer a small amount of white royal icing into a separate bowl to add your desired food colouring. 

It's best to work with one colour at a time to prevent the icing from hardening in the bowl while you're decorating. To avoid this cover bowl with plastic wrap after each usage and when moving on to another colour.

Keep the remaining white icing covered with a moist tea towel over the top to prevent it from going hard.

Use the back of a teaspoon or small cake tools to spread a base colour over the cookie. Do not start with too much icing on the biscuit; add more where needed.

Allow the base colour to dry completely before decorating more details on top.

If you have used an embossed cookie-cutter, colour the raised areas only. I have used a chopstick to tap and drag the colour around, tapping down to change direction.

I use a toothpick for the finer details, such as the mouth and eyes on the bunny cookies.

There you have it royal iced biscuits easy decorating for Easter. 

Of course, you can use piping bags if preferred, in which case I recommend following the icing advice on our Christmas iced biscuit recipe.

Where I go into more detail about piping around the cookie and flooding icing inside the outline.

📖 Step by Step Recipe

Iced Biscuits Storage

Once the icing has dried, store the iced biscuits in an airtight container or sealed bag at room temperature for up to four days - if they don't get eaten before then!

We hope you have enjoyed this creative activity with the kids, or without. Be sure to share your Easter cookie designs with us on social media. #flawlessfooduk

You could even use these as Easter treats during your egg hunt! 

Happy baking!

Easter Recipe Ideas

Looking for more Easter recipe ideas?

Our chocolate cornflake cakes are an easy recipe to make with the kids they can be made with mini eggs on top for an Easter treat. Why not make a healthy fruit platter made with Easter shaped fruit.

We have a fabulous hot cross bun from scratch recipe.

For a fantastic Easter dinner try our slow-cooked leg of lamb or slow roast lamb shoulder.