How to Decorate Easter Basket Sugar Cookies

PREPARE CRUSTING BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

I used my Crusting Buttercream Frosting. This recipe makes about 4 cups of buttercream. Below, you’ll find instructions on how to color and divide buttercream into piping bags. You should have enough to decorate about 15-20 cookies, each about 2 3/4 to 3 inches across.

COLOR CRUSTING BUTTERCREAM

• White Buttercream: Spoon about 2 cups of white buttercream into a bowl and cover it. Cut a small opening in a piping bag and insert a star piping tip #16. Push the tip down the bag until it fits in the small opening.
  • Fill the bag with half of the buttercream. Refill the piping bag during decorating, if needed.
  • It’s easier to work with a small amount of buttercream. Avoid overfilling the piping bag with buttercream.
• Blue Buttercream: Color about ½ cup of white buttercream with blue gel color. Keep buttercream in a small bowl. Cover the bowl to prevent buttercream from crusting.
• Green Buttercream: Color about ½ cup of white buttercream with blue and yellow gel colors to make green. Fit a piping bag with a grass piping tip.
  • Fill the bag with green buttercream. Twist the end of the piping bag.
• Pink Buttercream: Color about ¼ cup of buttercream with pink gel color. Fit a piping bag with a small round piping tip #2.
  • Fill the piping bag with pink buttercream. Twist the end of the piping bag.
• Yellow Buttercream: Color about ¼ cup of buttercream with pink gel color. Fit the piping bag with a #2 round piping tip.
  • Fill the piping bag with yellow buttercream. Twist the end of the piping bag.

DECORATE EASTER BASKET COOKIES WITH BUTTERCREAM

• Spread a thin layer of blue buttercream onto the top portion of the cookie. Use a small spatula, flexible plastic spreader or a spoon (steps 1-3).
• Pipe small dots of white buttercream onto the blue and smooth it over the blue layer (steps 4-6). This cloud effect is optional.

• Onto a plate or a coffee filter, pour white sanding sugar. Immediately dip the blue buttercream layer in the sanding sugar (steps 1-3).
• Trim the excess with a 2-in-1 tool (cookie scrapper, often called a boo-boo stick) and clean up the edge if necessary (steps 4-6).

HOW TO PIPE BASKET WEAVE DESIGN WITH A STAR TIP

With white buttercream and a piping bag fitted with a star tip, pipe a basketweave design below the blue buttercream layer (steps 1-8). Here is a closer look at a basket weave technique, piped with a basketweave piping tip.

• Pipe a seashell border around the blue buttercream layer.
• Clean up the edge with a 2-in-1 tool. Use a shovel at the end of the decorating tool.

PIPE GRASS

• Use a piping bag filled with green buttercream, fitted with a grass piping tip, to pipe grass on top of the white basket section.
• Attach your favorite Easter egg candies to the grass section. Gently push chocolate eggs into the buttercream.

PINK AND YELLOW FLOWERS

• Pipe Pink and Yellow Flowers
• Use piping bags filled with pink and yellow buttercream, fitted with round tip #2, to pipe small flowers below the grass layer.
• To pipe flowers, pipe teardrop-shaped petals.
• I used edible pearls to make flower centers.
• If you don’t have edible pearls to make the flower centers, use yellow buttercream on pink flowers and pink buttercream on yellow flowers.
• Allow buttercream to crust for 6-9 hours before packaging.
• Store cookies in an airtight container.

MORE EASTER RECIPES

• Easter Bunny Napkin Tutorial
• Hot Cross Buns Recipe
• No Bake Mini Egg Cheesecake via Tamming Twins
• Speckled Easter Egg Cookies via Sweet Ambs
• Edible Easter Gingerbread House