Easter Cookies The Most Festive and Delicious Spring Treat You Will Bake

Easter Cookies have a way of making the whole kitchen feel like a celebration. Teresa showed up one Sunday morning with two bags of pastel M&Ms and a container of spring sprinkles and set them on the counter without a word. Maria looked up from her coffee. Lucia put down her dish towel. And just like that, the three of us were standing side by side rolling dough balls into bowls of pastel sprinkles, laughing and talking and filling the kitchen with the most wonderful smell of warm vanilla and brown sugar.

Easter Cookies are soft and chewy in the center, just barely crisp at the edges, and absolutely bursting with color in every single bite. The pastel M&Ms melt slightly as they bake and turn into little pockets of sweet chocolate goodness throughout the dough. The white chocolate chips add a creamy richness that makes these cookies taste far more special than the simple ingredient list suggests. We have made these every Easter for the past three years now and they are officially a tradition in our kitchen. If you love festive seasonal bakes, come find us on Pinterest where we share something new from our kitchen every single week.

Why You Will Love This Easter Cookies Recipe

This Easter Cookies recipe is everything a spring holiday bake should be. It is quick, it is colorful, it is completely beginner friendly, and it produces cookies that look like they belong in the window of a bakery. From mixing bowl to finished cookie takes less than thirty minutes, which means you can make a beautiful batch for Easter morning without spending your whole holiday in the kitchen.

The combination of pastel M&Ms, white chocolate chips, and sprinkles pressed into the tops makes every single cookie look festive and joyful before it even goes into the oven. And the texture is exactly what a great cookie should be. Soft and chewy all the way through with just enough crisp at the edges to give you that satisfying bite. Our Dole Whip Cupcakes with Pineapple Filling make a wonderful colorful companion on any Easter dessert table alongside these cookies and together they create a spread that will have everyone reaching for seconds.

Ingredients Needed for This Easter Cookies Recipe

• 1½ cups plus 1 tbsp All-Purpose Flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp Salt
• ½ cup Unsalted Butter, softened but still cool
• ½ cup Granulated Sugar
• ⅓ cup Brown Sugar, lightly packed and fresh
• 1 large Egg, cold straight from the fridge
• 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
• ¾ cup Pastel Easter M&Ms plus extra for topping
• ½ cup White Chocolate Chips or Chunks plus extra for topping
• ¼ cup Pastel Sprinkles

How to Make This Easter Cookies Recipe

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with both sugars using a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the cold egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the flour mixture on low speed and mix until just combined. Stop the moment you no longer see dry flour, cara mia. Overmixing is the enemy of a tender chewy cookie.

Gently fold in the M&Ms and white chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Pour your pastel sprinkles into a shallow bowl. Scoop dough balls of about 1½ to 2½ tablespoons each and gently press the top of each ball into the sprinkles so the tops are beautifully coated. Do not press down so hard that you flatten the ball. They should stay round and domed when they go onto the baking sheet.

Place the dough balls on your prepared baking sheets, leaving a couple of inches between each one for spreading. Make sure they are mounded higher rather than wider before they go in the oven. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes until the edges are set but the centers still look slightly underdone. That is your signal to pull them out. They will finish setting as they cool on the warm tray.

The moment the cookies come out of the oven, shape them while they are still hot. Place a round glass or cookie cutter larger than the cookie upside down over each one and swirl in a quick gentle circular motion. The edges of the cookie bump against the inside of the glass and create a perfectly round shape. Work quickly because this only works while the cookies are still hot. If desired, press a few extra M&Ms and white chocolate chips onto the tops of the cookies while they are still warm. Cool completely on the baking sheets before serving.

How to Serve This Easter Cookies Recipe

Stack these cookies on a white plate or a tiered stand and let the pastel colors take center stage. They need absolutely nothing alongside them except perhaps a cold glass of milk or a warm cup of tea. For an Easter morning breakfast table, arrange them in a basket lined with tissue paper for the most charming presentation. Pair them with our Fluffy Strawberry Shortcake Puppy Chow for a full festive spring spread that will delight children and grown-ups equally.

How to Store This Easter Cookies Recipe

Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Place a sheet of parchment paper between layers to prevent the sprinkles from sticking together. These cookies also freeze beautifully. Place fully cooled cookies in a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about 20 to 30 minutes before serving. The raw dough balls can also be refrigerated for up to 20 minutes before baking for slightly thicker cookies, or frozen on a lined tray and then transferred to a bag for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen, adding a minute or two to the baking time.

Tips to Make This Easter Cookies Recipe

Use butter that is softened but still cool to the touch. Butter that is too warm will cause the cookies to spread too much in the oven and you will end up with thin flat cookies instead of those beautiful thick chewy rounds. Your brown sugar should be fresh and soft. Hard dried-out brown sugar does not hold moisture the same way and your cookies will be less chewy as a result. When pressing the dough balls into the sprinkles, do it gently. The balls should stay round and domed. Do not overbake. Pull the tray from the oven when the centers still look slightly underdone and trust the cooling process to finish the job.

Helpful Notes for This Easter Cookies Recipe

Using a cold egg straight from the refrigerator helps the dough come together more cleanly and keeps the cookies from spreading too quickly in the oven. The white chocolate chips add a creamy sweetness that balances the more colorful M&Ms beautifully and we recommend not skipping them even if it seems like the cookies have enough going on already. They truly make a difference in both flavor and texture. The sprinkles pressed into the tops before baking are what give these cookies their signature festive look, so be generous with them and make sure every ball gets a good coating on top before going onto the tray.

Variation of This Easter Cookies Recipe

Maria once made these with dark chocolate chips instead of white and the contrast of deep dark chocolate against the pastel M&Ms was absolutely beautiful and the flavor was wonderfully rich. Teresa tried a version with peanut butter chips folded through the dough and a drizzle of melted chocolate over the top once they cooled, and the whole tray disappeared before anyone even sat down. You can also swap the pastel M&Ms for any seasonal variety depending on the holiday. Christmas red and green, orange and black for Halloween, red and pink for Valentine’s Day. The base cookie dough is perfect for every season and every celebration. Our Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes make a bright and beautiful companion on any spring holiday table.

FAQs About This Easter Cookies Recipe

Conclusion

These Easter Cookies are one of those recipes that brings pure joy from the very first moment you pour the pastel sprinkles into the bowl. They are festive, they are delicious, and they are made with all the love and laughter of a Sunday morning in our kitchen. We hope they become a tradition in your home the way they have become one in ours. Make them, share them with everyone around your table, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.

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