Soft & Chewy Mini Egg Sugar Cookies

These delightful and festive Mini Egg Sugar Cookies are perfect for Easter with their soft and chewy texture and pastel-colored mini chocolate eggs throughout. They are incredibly flavorful with a sweet custardy vanilla flavor that is irresistible, so if you ever thought sugar cookies were boring, this recipe will change your mind. They have a long shelf life, so they keep very well in an airtight container and stay chewy even on day 5. Each bite has just the right amount of milk chocolate from festive mini eggs that we all love around Easter time!

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

• Soft and chewy sugar cookies - these lovely drop sugar cookies have the most perfect soft and chewy texture! They are golden on the bottom, slightly crisp on the edges and perfectly soft in the middle.
• Rich vanilla flavor - as a nod to Easter, I made this recipe so there is this sweet vanilla custardy flavor thanks to an extra egg yolk. It gives it a beautiful richness and also helps create that chewy texture.
• Chocolate mini eggs - it's not Easter without mini eggs and they are great baked into cookie dough. You can use any brand of mini eggs, but of course Cadbury mini eggs are the most popular.
• Easy recipe - this cookie dough is so easy to prepare with just a bowl and a spatula. You don't even need a mixer, although I often use one to help get the job done.

INGREDIENTS FOR MINI EGG SUGAR COOKIES

• Butter - I use unsalted butter in this recipe for a sweet creamy buttery flavor, and salted butter works too. If you use salted butter, then reduce the added salt by half.
• Granulated sugar - simple white sugar creates the chewy texture and adds the perfect sweetness while letting the vanilla flavor shine.
• Egg - you'll need one whole egg plus one egg yolk for this recipe. The more yellow the yolks are, the more custard-colored your cookies will be.
• Egg yolk - one additional egg yolk is key to giving these cookies that chewy texture and a rich flavor.
• Milk - a little bit of milk adds moisture to make very soft cookies without making them cakey.

• Pure vanilla extract - vanilla is essential to make these cookies taste great and don't be shy with it! I love this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract.
• Salt - salt is super important in any cookie recipe. It balances the sweetness and really elevates the rich buttery sweet taste.
• All purpose flour - regular unbleached all-purpose flour makes perfectly chewy cookies in this application.
• Mini eggs - instead of chocolate chips, we're using chopped up milk chocolate mini eggs! Use which ever ones you like. Cadbury mini eggs are an obvious choice.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS: HOW TO MAKE MINI EGG SUGAR COOKIES

• STEP 1). Chop up the mini eggs, or crush them up by placing them in a sealed zip-top bag and then bash them with a rolling pin.
• STEP 2). Cream butter and sugar. Combine soft butter with granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes until pale and fluffy. You can also mix by hand with a wide rubber spatula using the creaming method.
• STEP 3). Mix in egg. Add the egg and mix until well incorporated. Add egg yolk and milk and mix until combined. The mixture should look creamy and smooth at this point.
• STEP 4). Combine dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend evenly. Add these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture and fold it in until mostly combined. Before all of the flour is incorporated and a few streaks still remain, add chopped mini eggs and fold them through so they are evenly distributed.
• STEP 5). Chill the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• STEP 6). Bake. Use a 1.35-oz cookie scoop to scoop up dough (about 56g balls for these large cookies), roll into smooth balls and then roll the dough balls in granulated sugar so they are evenly coated. Place the dough balls onto prepared baking sheets spacing them at least 3 inches apart with room to spread. Bake for 9-11 minutes until evenly golden and the edges are browned. The centers will puff up and still feel slightly soft in the middle.

EXPERT BAKING TIPS

• Use your favorite vanilla extract. Vanilla is essential to this recipe and I really love my Bourbon Madagascar vanilla extract.
• Add the extra yolk. I do not suggest omitting the extra egg yolk from this recipe. It is essential to give these cookies a soft and chewy texture, and also contribute a delicious custardy taste.
• Measure the flour accurately. I highly recommend using a scale to measure your flour, but if you don't have one, then you should spoon it into your measuring cup before leveling it off with a knife. Do not pack down the flour in the cup.
• Sift the dry ingredients. This is optional, but it will minimize the amount of mixing needed to combine the ingredients evenly so that you do not over-mix the dough.
• Ensure the oven is sufficiently preheated. One of the reasons why cookies spread too much is that the oven was not properly heated at the start of the baking time. As a result, the butter in the dough slowly melts and spreads before the starch can gel to set the outside of the cookies.
• Do not over-bake. These cookies are ready when the bottoms are just lightly golden.
• Use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients. The biggest culprit for cookies that spread too thin or don't spread at all is the wrong amount of flour.

RECIPE FAQ

STORAGE & FREEZING

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