Cookie Cups are a fun and easy way to make cookies that you can fill with frosting and decorate however you like! These Easter Cookie Cups are topped with buttercream and chocolate eggs and will be gorgeous on your Easter table.
Imagine this: you have an Easter basket full of chocolate eggs, but instead it’s a cookie basket, so you can eat the eggs and the entire basket too! This easter cookie recipe is super easy to make, completely adorable, and will be loved by all.
These decorated cookie cups are way quicker to make than a traditional batch of easter cut-out cookies, but they have the same delicious sugar-cookie flavor and a rich buttercream topping.
Want to Make an easy and beautiful layer cake for Easter this year? Try making this Easter Peeps Cake or a Chocolate Easter Nest Cake.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe: Baking cookies in a mini muffin pan is actually easier than baking them on a tray! This scratch recipe for sugar cookie cups comes together easily too with just a handful of ingredients.
- Fun Decorations: I love using candy to decorate cakes and cupcakes, and here you can use Cadbury mini eggs or your favorite chocolate eggs to make decorating Easter cookies colorful and fun.
- An Easter Cookie Recipe: There aren’t many cookie recipes specific to the Easter holiday, but there definitely should be more! These Easter Cookies are perfect for the season.
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Butter: I suggest using unsalted butter when baking. You have much more control over the salt level this way. Let the butter for the cookies and the buttercream soften at room temperature before starting.
- Sugars: Both white and brown sugar is used in this cookie cup recipe. This gives them the perfect chewy texture with crisp edges.
- Egg: One large egg, at room temperature, please.
- Vanilla Extract and Salt: These add the right amount of flavor to these sugar cookie cups.
- Flour and Baking Powder: The dry ingredients round out the cookie dough recipe. Baking powder gives these cookies a bit of lift, but not too much that the cookies overflow the pan.
- Buttercream: To make the creamy topping for cookie cups, you’ll need butter, powdered sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla extract.
- Candy Decorations – You’ll need about a cup of colorful, coated, chocolate eggs. Try Cadbury mini eggs, M&M eggs, or use Jelly Bird Eggs (jelly beans) for a non-chocolate option.
How to Make Easter Cookie Cups
- Get Ready to Bake: Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C, and lightly spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Make the Cookie Dough: In a large bowl, using a hand electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugars until light and creamy. Then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Finally, add flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat again at low speed until just combined.
- Bake: Using a small cookie scoop, divide the cookie dough between 22 of the cookie cups. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, and while the cookies are still warm, push down the centers using a measuring teaspoon. Allow the cups to cool completely.
- Make Buttercream: In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy, and then gradually add the powdered sugar. Add the milk, vanilla, and food coloring and beat again. You can adjust the consistency of the frosting if needed by adding more powdered sugar or milk.
- Frost and Decorate: Add the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe frosting into each cooled cookie cup. Top with mini eggs and enjoy!
Tip!
Use green-colored coconut flakes to add a grass effect if you like!
Recipe Tips
Measure Correctly: When baking it’s important to measure all of the ingredients accurately. Use a digital scale to measure your ingredients, or check out these tips for getting ingredient measurements right.
Go Slow with Powdered Sugar: If you add it all in at once and turn on the mixer, you’ll create a sugar storm! Add just a little bit at a time and mix at low speed.
You Will Make 22: A mini muffin pan will have 24 spots, but you will leave 2 of them empty for this recipe.
Want Less Frosting? You can skip the step where we press the centers of the cups down if you’d prefer to just top the cookie cups with frosting rather than fill them up.
Tip!
Save time by using store-bought frosting!
Helpful Tools for Making Cookie Cups
- A Mini Muffin Pan: Wilton pans are my go-to. They are reasonably priced and work very well.
- Piping Tips and Bag: Disposable piping bags and a good star tip make the filling for these cookie cups easy.
- Gel Food Coloring: Gel food coloring will give you vibrant colors without changing the texture of your icing. I like this set that has all of the basic colors.
- Electric Hand Mixer: This is the perfect tool for mixing up both the cookie dough and the creamy buttercream frosting. I love this one from Kitchenaid, as it has a large range of speeds for making all sorts of recipes.
- Cookie Scoop: Using a scoop helps you to ensure that all of the cookie cups are the same size. I use these scoops for all of my cookie recipes.
Easter Recipes to Serve with Easter Cookies
Are you planning your Easter Brunch or Easter Dinner menu? You might like to start here with some of my best Easter recipes!
Start by choosing a delicious Easter ham recipe. Pineapple Ham is a gorgeous, classic main dish. You can also make a Honey Baked Ham, or do the Ham in the instant pot this year.
Put out tasty and easy sides like Broccoli Casserole, Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole and Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots.
Finish the Easter menu with Brunch-friendly sweets and treats! Kulich Easter Bread, Orange Muffins, Blueberry Cheesecake Bars, Banana Pudding, and Ambrosia Salad with marshmallows will all be amazing.
FAQs
You can use this recipe to make cookie cups for any holiday, birthday, party, or event that you like! Just change up the colors and decorations to fit your theme.
You can store these in an airtight container for 3-4 days. You can also freeze the cookie cups without any frosting added for 2-3 months. Then you can pull them out when you need them and decorate for your party.
Cookie cups are super versatile – you can fill them up with anything you like! I think that for Easter the vanilla frosting tinted green is lovely, but you can feel free to use your favorite chocolate frosting.
Looking for more cookie cup recipes? Check out my Peanut Butter Cookie Cups and these super cute Football Cookie Cups!
Enjoy time with your family this Easter while everyone is enjoying the delicious and easy Easter cookie cups you made!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Easter Basket Cookie Cups
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter 1 stick, at room temperature
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (150g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Buttercream:
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter 1 stick, at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Green food coloring
To decorate:
- 1 cup Cadbury mini eggs or M&M eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C, and lightly spray a mini muffin pan with baking spray.
- In a large bowl, using a hand electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugars until light and creamy. 2 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat until well combined.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat again at low speed until just combined.
- Using a small cookie scoop, divide the cookie dough between cookie cups.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, and as the cookie cups are still warm – using a measuring teaspoon push down the center of the cookie cup a little (this is optional but allows you add more frosting).
Make the buttercream:
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy then gradually add the powdered sugar to avoid a sugar storm.
- Add the milk, vanilla and food coloring if using, and beat again. Adjust the consistency if needed by adding more powdered sugar or milk.
- Frost the cookie cups, then decorate with mini eggs.
Notes:
- Measure Correctly: When baking it’s important to measure all of the ingredients accurately. Use a digital scale to measure your ingredients, or check out these tips for getting ingredient measurements right.
- Go Slow with Powdered Sugar: If you add it all in at once and turn on the mixer, you’ll create a sugar storm! Add just a little bit at a time and mix at low speed.
- Want Less Frosting? You can skip the step where we press the centers of the cups down if you’d prefer to just top the cookie cups with frosting rather than fill them up.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
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