Earth day is one of the best holidays, in my opinion. It’s a day to celebrate the earth, appreciate its beauty, and help keep that beauty moving forward to future generations. We recommend that on Earth Day you do something to help the Earth, like pick up garbage or fill out all the darn paperwork to get recycling can. When all of that work is done and you want a way to celebrate, make these Earth cookies and share with your family and friends!
Regardless of your politics, I hope we can all agree that the Earth we live in is a marvel to be cherished. Earth Day, in my opinion, is a good time to pause and remind ourselves of the awesomeness of our world. Wherever you are, take a few moments to step outside, look around, and be blown away by our world. The Earth is amazing!
This is an especially great recipe for kids, especially those who are too young to participate in lots of Earth Day activities. This is a great way to teach them to love the earth while keeping it fun and delicious! You can make up the sugar cookie dough and then they can help form the fun cookies!
Below is a simple sugar cookie recipe that is well-loved in my house. You could certainly use purchased sugar cookie dough, add the coloring, and create earth-shaped cookies. Either way, homemade sugar cookie dough or purchased, these are a fun cookies to celebrate the Earth!
Earth Day Key Ingredients:
- Sugar Cookie dough. I have my favorite homemade recipe below but you can certainly use purchased.
- Icing. I recommend the icing in the recipe below but you can use your favorite to create the little hearts.
- Food coloring. Blue, green, and red.
What happened on the first Earth Day?
Earth Day was begun by Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970. He was disturbed that the nation wasn’t addressing an important topic like the environment. He had just come back from the oil spill in Santa Barbara, California (1969. I had to go look this up :)) and felt there should be a collective effort to help in situations like it. Anyways, that first Earth Day they estimate over 20 million participated in celebrations nationwide.
Learn more at the EPA website.
The Senator Nelson is from WI, my husband is from WI, we lived there for 15 years. It’s kind of cool.
Instructions for Making Earth Day Cookies:
Cookie Dough:
- In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 30 seconds or until fluffy.
- Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and beat until mixed well.
- Add the egg, milk, and almond extract and beat just until combined.
- Add as much flour as you can and beat.
- Add the remaining flour with a wooden spoon.
Forming Earth:
- Divide the dough into halves with one half having a bit more than the other.
- Using food coloring, dye the smaller half green and the larger half blue.
- Chill the dough for about 20 minutes and begin to preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- To make the cookies: Use about 1 tablespoon of blue dough to make a small patty. Lay about 3/4 tablespoon of green dough on top. Roll it into a ball and press down on to an ungreased cookie sheet with a jar dipped in sugar.
- Bake for about 6-8 minutes or just until set. Do not overbake.
Icing:
- Mix the powdered sugar, extract, and milk together. Add additional sugar or milk to get the consistency you would like.
- Mix in red food coloring to obtain a nice red color.
Adding the heart:
- Use a toothpick or small knife to place a small amount of icing on the cookie.
- Use a toothpick to gently drag the icing into a heart shape (move quickly before the icing dries) and let dry.
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup butter soft
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups flour
Icing
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- dash almond extract
- 1 teaspoon milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 30 seconds or until fluffy.
- Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and beat until mixed well.
- Add the egg, milk, and almond extract and beat just until combined.
- Add as much flour as you can and beat.
- Add the remaining flour with a wooden spoon.
- Divide the dough into halves with one half having a bit more than the other.
- Using food coloring, dye the smaller half green and the larger half blue.
- Chill the dough for about 20 minutes and begin to preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- To make the cookies: Use about 1 tablespoon of blue dough to make a small patty. Lay about 3/4 tablespoon of green dough on top. Roll it into a ball and press down on to an ungreased cookie sheet with a jar dipped in sugar.
- Bake for about 6-8 minutes or just until set. Do not overbake.
Icing:
- Mix the powdered sugar, extract, and milk together. Add additional sugar or milk to get the consistency you would like.
- Mix in red food coloring to obtain a nice red color.
- Use a toothpick or small knife to place a small amount of icing on the cookie.
- Use a toothpick to gently drag the icing into a heart shape (move quickly before the icing dries) and let dry.
Notes
Nutrition
Other great earth day projects:
Have A Good Day
What a beautiful way to celebrate. When I make too many cookies I will always freeze them after they have cooled and pull them out at a later time. It is really nice to have something made on those hectic days when you can’t bake. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Thanks for mentioning the egg! I updated the ingredients to make sure it is in there…that is a big deal! These cookies are often made in homeschool settings or for parties which is why the 48 quantity is there. I have 9 siblings so I guess I do recipes in big numbers ;). Although it isn’t ideal to half an egg you could whip it in a bowl and only include half of the whipped egg if you really wanted to half this recipe.
My suggestion…use your fave sugar cookie recipe and just follow the technique for making it look like an earth.
48 cookies is an awful lot and i would half it but you cant half an egg! Also the ingredients didn’t include the egg, i nearly missed it out! I just want easy to make earth cookies.