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!
Karen
These were so delicious! A hit with every kid in the house. We used Halloween sprinkles to make them extra festive. Will make again!
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Ava
I made these cookies and there are delicious! I used Christmas sprinkles instead of rainbow. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Celebrating Sweets
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed them. Merry Christmas! 🙂
Dana
They are in the oven as we speak and the smell is wonderful!
How do i store them and how long will they keep?
Thank you!
Celebrating Sweets
I keep them at room temp for up to 2 days, any longer and they should be frozen. Enjoy!
Shelly
These were amazing! I’ll definitely be making them again.
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Gurl who bakes
Nothing much to say except, Amazing
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Ella
Would nonpareils work? I have a bunch that I need to use up 🙂
Celebrating Sweets
That should be fine. Enjoy!
Lizzie
Can I use a cookie cutter for this cookies or are they too soft to be moulded with a cookie cutter?
Celebrating Sweets
The dough will be too soft for rolling and cutting. You can try this recipe for cutout cookies: Easy Sugar Cookies
Anna
Hi there,
I just made these cookies-and for some reason they did not spread at all -did exactly as per your recipe, I had to press them down with a spoon to look like a cookie – and of course they cracked-but I had no choice as they would just stay in a ball.
We also found them a bit too sweet (including our teenagers), so if I try to make them again I will only put 1/2 cup sugar. Your look so perfect on the picture, I am sorry to give only a 3 star review, but they just didnt work for me for some strange reason. I am happy to send you a photo if you can give me some pointers perhaps – why they didn’t spread at all :(. ( My butter was soft enough -as per your note in the recipe)
Thank you!
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Anna. Thanks for sharing your experience.
The cookies spread when the fat (butter) starts to melt in the oven. Are you sure you used the proper amount of butter? And was it actual real butter (not margarine, butter flavored spread, etc)?
If the cookie dough has too much flour this can also keep them from spreading. Are you sure you didn’t accidentally overmeasure your flour?
Have you checked your oven temp for accuracy recently, perhaps that could be a factor.
Lastly, did you place the dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets? If you placed them on some other type of liner (or if you used something other than standard baking sheets) this could affect the spreading as well.
Hopefully this helps. Happy baking!
Allison
Trish
Delicious!!!!! Perfect recipe to make with my 4 year old helping out. The only fault can find is that they came out a little too sweet for my taste. I’ll cut some of the sugar next time, but will definitely be making these again.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Tracy Macintosh
Glad I found this recipe. Super easy and delicious. Made these with my sons age 5&10 and they were so proud of themselves!
I did not find them too sweet and would not change a thing.
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m glad that you enjoyed them! 🙂