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!
Stephanie
These look delicious! Should we sift the flour before or after measuring?
Celebrating Sweets
That shouldn’t be necessary, I don’t sift the flour before making them. If you really want to you can measure after sifting. Enjoy!
Deb
Hello! Can I use self raising flour in place of plain flour and baking powder?
Celebrating Sweets
I haven’t tried it, but I would assume so. I think self rising flour also has salt in it so you might need to reduce the salt a bit, too. Enjoy!
Jade Vaccaro
Mine came out a cake texture. Any idea why?
Celebrating Sweets
Did you make any changes?
Ann S
These are great! I just finished making them with my 6-year old. We had to bake for approximately 12 minutes to get them done (near sea level). The only thing we changed was not stirring in sprinkles. We only added them to the top. Loved by the whole family!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Christina
They were way too cake like for my liking and kinda thick. I followed the recipe to a T and couldn’t find out where it went wrong. I’m not a chef or anything, but I have made many cookies before and this recipe felt a little weird with the ratios.
Cathy
These were amazing! They were thick, fluffy, and delicious. I didn’t put the sprinkles in the batter because I was running low, but they were great on top! Bookmarking this as my go to cookie for the kids!!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Mollie
Abit too cake like for me kind of embarrassing when you tell people your making biscuits then you give them some and their more like cakes
Celebrating Sweets
Sorry to hear that. I am assuming that you are in the UK since you are referring to them as biscuits. I’m pretty sure UK “cup” measurements are slightly different than US cups, perhaps that’s why they came out a bit different.
Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Stefani
Thanks for the yummy recipe!! Easy peasy for me and kids to make together. We also didn’t mix in the sprinkles and only added them to the top.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Anjule
These came out awesome! I rolled mine in a mixture of sprinkles and sugar. The kids love them!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Al
Made these a few times now and it’s a hit. Adults and kids at the playdates looove these cookies. I love that it’s so fast to whip up!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂