The best SOFT and CHEWY SUGAR COOKIES loaded with SPRINKLES! No chill time – you can be diving into freshly baked Sprinkle Cookies in under 30 minutes.
My inner 5 year-old is squealing, because: SPRINKLE COOKIES! I mean, tell me these don’t brighten your Monday just a touch? Soft, chewy sugar cookies loaded with colorful sprinkles. Gimme!
This recipe was one of the first that I ever published, and I decided it was time for a facelift. I tweaked the recipe just a bit, and I took some new pictures (note: I also consumed no fewer than a dozen cookies during this process). #hardwork
We recently celebrated the start of a new school year, and I always make my kiddos cookies on the first day of school. For Juliette’s first day of Pre-K, she came home to a big plate of Sprinkle Cookies. If there is anything that you should know about Juliette, it is that she is one fancy girl. She loves glitter, sparkles, unicorns, dress up, and she especially loves SPRINKLES (pink and purple specifically). She was thrilled to dive into these cookies after her first day of school.
Sprinkle Cookies
- This recipe starts with a basic sugar cookie dough. In addition to vanilla, I also add a tiny bit of almond extract. I absolutely love almond extract in a sugar cookie – feel free to leave it out, if you’d prefer.
- After preparing the dough, we add a generous amount of sprinkles. I use rainbow sprinkles, but you can use any color that you’d like.
- The dough gets scooped into balls, then gently rolled in more sprinkles. This makes the sprinkles really noticeable; there’s no guessing what kind of cookies these are.
- Now here’s the key: We are going to underbake these just slightly. In order to get a soft, slightly chewy cookie, we have to remove them from the oven before they are completely cooked through. They will continue cooking on the baking sheet after coming out of the oven.
Whether you’re celebrating something special, or you’re just craving a Sprinkle Cookie, I hope you give these a try. The dough balls also freeze well, if you want to stick some in the freezer for another day. Freshly baked cookies at the ready? Yes, please!
Love SUGAR COOKIES? Try these: SUGAR COOKIE BARS – EASY SUGAR COOKIES – SUGAR COOKIE FRUIT TARTS
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Recipe
Soft Sprinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour, add an extra tablespoon for thicker cookies
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened slightly but still cool
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional
- ¾ cup sprinkles, see note
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter until smooth. Slowly pour in the sugar, mixing as you pour. Beat sugar and butter for a minute, until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, mixing until combined and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add ½ cup sprinkles (see note) and stir by hand until combined.
- Scoop 2-tablespoon portions of dough and roll into a ball. Place ¼ cup sprinkles on a plate and press the tops of the dough balls in sprinkles. Place dough balls onto prepared baking sheet leaving about a couple inches for spreading. I like to mound the dough balls higher rather than wider so that they bake up on the thicker side.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. The edges should be completely set, and the centers should look slightly under cooked. See note about shaping the cookies immediately after baking. Place the baking sheets on wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough once the baking sheets are completely cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Kristy
I followed the alternative sprinkle route. And I also used salted butter (it was all I had). They are great! Made for my daughters 4th birthday. Really versatile
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Rachel
Perfection
Rachel Geller Groner
sooo good! We did ¼ c of sprinkles inside. We made both regular size and ‘drop’ cookies, which took about 6 minutes, and were so adorable for a tea party! We’re calling them Sprinkle Party cookies!
Allison
Perfect! I’m glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Milly
The cookie came out with a raw type of texture.
Allison
Sorry to hear that. Perhaps your oven runs on the cooler side and they needed to be baked a bit longer. Thanks for stopping by!
MK
My kids loved these cookies!! If you make them bigger they can be like a mini crumbl cookie:)
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Ashley
We loved them! Thank you!
Allison
You’re welcome!
Consuela
These were really good! I made only a few with sprinkles, the rest plain, and all were wonderful. I used less sugar and made them was smaller than suggested, 2 tsp instead of tbs, and they came in a good side for my kids to hold in their hands. Thank you!
Allison
I’m so glad! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Lisa Hissam
Delicious ! A new favorite cookie recipe ! Perfect 🤩
Allison
I’m so glad! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Mary Quinn
Yummy
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Sydney R
Could I make the dough and form the balls the day before and then refrigerate? Then on the day I want to bake dip them in the sprinkles and bake? Thanks so much!
Allison
That should work. The dough balls might need to come room temp in order to get the sprinkles to stick.