These Easter basket cookies are super soft cookies topped with your favorite Easter egg candies for the perfect Easter treat! The colored coconut egg nest sits on top of a super soft sugar cookie with a layer of tasty buttercream frosting to hold Cadbury's shimmer mini milk chocolate eggs in place! Top your cookies with your favorite Easter egg candies for the perfect Easter treat to make with the kids!
Easy Easter Basket Cookies
This Easter cookie project is a fun process to let your kids join in on! I have always handed off coloring the coconut to my daughter, Lauren, in the past. This year, I left the whole Easter cookie building to her!
I like to use my double sugar cookies recipe as the base. They are not too sweet, which is important when topping your cookies with frosting, coconut, and candy eggs!
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🥘 Ingredients For Making Easter Basket Cookies
You only need 5 ingredients to make these adorable Easter cookies! You don't have to follow my recipes for sugar cookies and buttercream frosting, but they are super simple and easy to make from scratch.
- Sugar Cookies - You will need ½ a batch of my double sugar cookie recipe. Otherwise, you can use your favorite recipe or bake some pre-packaged sugar cookies.
- Vanilla Buttercream - ½ batch of my vanilla buttercream frosting, or follow your own recipe.
- Shredded Coconut - 4 cups of shredded coconut divided into 3-4 equal portions.
- Gel Food Coloring - 3-4 different colors of gel food coloring (whatever colors you prefer). You will only need about a drop of each.
- Cadbury's Shimmer Mini Chocolate Eggs - One 9-ounce bag of Cadbury's shimmer mini chocolate eggs, or your preferred egg-shaped candy.
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🔪 How To Make Easter Basket Cookies
Once the cookies are baked, the rest is just decorating! To assemble the cookies, you will need a piping bag or silicone spatula and Ziploc bags.
I'm also only using a half batch of my super soft sugar cookies, as I didn't want 50+ Easter basket cookies hanging around. If you are hosting a larger holiday gathering, double the recipe below as needed.
- Perpare cookies & frosting. Bake a half recipe of my double sugar cookies, as directed. Mix a half recipe of my vanilla buttercream frosting, as directed. Set aside and let the cookies cool completely.
- Portion the coconut. Color 4 cups of coconut by dividing your desired portions per selected colors and placing each coconut portion into a Ziploc plastic storage bag. I used three colors, so divided my coconut into three batches and placed each portion into one of three storage bags.
- Color the coconut. Add a drop of gel food coloring into each storage bag of coconut and seal the bag. Use your fingers to move the coconut around in the bag, distributing the coloring throughout the coconut. Allow the coconut to dry for a few minutes. *It doesn't need to be perfectly even in coloring, as the variations in each color look nice.
- Frost the cookies. Once the cookies are cooled, pipe or spread the buttercream frosting onto the cookies. I suggest piping a circle around the cookie edge to hold your coconut 'nest' in place.
- Assemble. Sprinkle coconut onto the frosted cookies then place 3 of each Cadbury shimmer mini milk chocolate eggs, or your desired egg-shaped candy, onto each cookie.
Make my Easter sugar cookie sandwiches for more fun in the kitchen with your kids using my no-roll sugar cookie dough! Or try my Easter basket cupcakes for a special treat (that also uses the Cadbury mini eggs)! Enjoy!
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- You can use whichever sugar cookie recipe you like, but my double sugar cookie recipe doesn't need to be rolled out so it works wonderfully!
- It is essential you let the cookies cool before frosting. Otherwise, your frosting, coconut, and candy eggs may melt and slide right off!
- You can pipe the buttercream frosting on with a large round open tip, or an open star tip. You can also use a small plastic storage bag and snip a bottom corner off.
🥡 Storing
Keep your Easter basket cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerate them for up to 5 days.
>>>>See all of my recipes here<<<<
❓ Recipe FAQs
Sure! If you want to decorate some Easter cookies without the stress of having to make them from scratch, just pick up some of your favorite sugar cookie dough and bake as directed. Once they cool, you can decorate as instructed!
Technically, yes, though it might be messy! It is best to leave off the egg candies when freezing for easier storage. Place the cookies in a Ziploc freezer bag or airtight container with wax paper between each layer to prevent them from sticking. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw before eating!
Sure! You can really use any flavor of frosting you like. I prefer my buttercream frosting because the color closely resembles that of the cookie, so it blends in and looks like part of the 'basket'.
🍪 More Tasty Cookies
- Polar Bear Paw Print Cookies - Chocolate cookies with frosting, coconut, mint patties, and M&Ms, that look like adorable polar bear paws!
- Gumdrop Cookies - Soft baked cookies filled with chewy chunks of gumdrop candy!
- No Chill Rolled Sugar Cookies - These cookies can be cut into almost any shape and decorated however you like!
- Cherry Chip Cake Batter Cookies - Made with cherry chip cake batter and M&Ms, these vibrant cookies are always a hit!
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies - Decadent chocolate cookies rolled in a sugary coating and baked! Yum!
- Black & White Cookies - Jumbo soft cookies that are half chocolate and half vanilla!
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📖 Recipe Card
Easter Basket Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ batch double sugar cookies (see recipe)
- ½ batch vanilla buttercream (see recipe)
- 4 cups shredded coconut (divided into 3-4 portions)
- gel food coloring (3 or 4 desired pastel colors)
- 1 9 oz bag Cadbury's shimmer mini chocolate eggs
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Bake a half recipe of my double sugar cookies, as directed. Mix a half recipe of my vanilla buttercream frosting, as directed.
- Color your coconut by dividing your desired portions per selected colors and placing each coconut portion into a ziploc plastic storage bag. I used three colors, so divided my coconut into three batches and placed each portion into one of three storage bags.
- Add a drop of gel food coloring into each storage bag of coconut, seal the bag. Use your fingers to move the coconut around in the bag, distributing the coloring throughout the coconut. Allow the coconut to dry for a few minutes.
- Once cookies are cooled, pipe or spread the buttercream frosting onto the cookies. I suggest piping a circle around the cookie edge to hold your coconut 'nest' in place.
- Sprinkle coconut onto the frosted cookies then place 3 of each Cadbury shimmer mini milk chocolate eggs onto each cookie.
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