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Top of italian easter cookies.

Soft Italian Easter Cookies

Rich and delish
These Italian easter cookies are cakey, soft, buttery, full of lemon flavor, and are topped with lemon glaze and pastel sprinkles.
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Servings 15 cookies
Calories 153 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • ½ cup Butter softened, unsalted
  • ½ cup Granulated sugar
  • 2 Eggs large
  • 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract or vanilla bean extract
  • ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 2 teaspoon Baking powder

Lemon glaze

  • 2 cups Powder sugar
  • 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 1-2 tablespoon Milk or as needed

Instructions
 

  • Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Into a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and sugar, and cream it with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes or until it's creamy and light in color.
  • Add the eggs and mix until smooth and well combined.
  • Then, add the flour, and baking powder, and mix with the hand mixer until just combined. Finish with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix!
  • Use a small cookie scoop (1 tbsp) and scoop the cookie dough onto the parchment paper baking sheet, spaced 2 inches apart.
  • Bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 11-15 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and they have a light golden brown color.
  • If you like your cookies soft, bake them for 11-12 minutes. If you like your cookies crispier, bake them for 15 minutes.
  • Let the cookies cool while you make the lemon glaze. Make a simple lemon glaze by mixing together in a small mixing bowl powder sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
  • Dip each cookie in the lemon glaze and top it with your favorite easter sprinkles. I used round pastel sprinkles.
  • Let the glaze set for about 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

  • Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly.
  • Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cookies and not dense and dry cookies.
  • Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
  • Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
  • Line your sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat! This step helps the cookies to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cookies release easily from the pan.
  • Use a cookies scoop to scoop out the cookies, that way you will have even-sized cookies, plus it ensures that your cookies bake evenly.
  • I suggest letting these cookies cool for 5 minutes and then transferring them to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 more minutes. This step ensures that the bottom of your cookies will not be soggy from the steam.

Nutrition

Calories: 153kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 3gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 193mgPotassium: 36mgFiber: 1gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 226IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 42mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Italian cookies for easter, Italian Easter Cookies
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