chewy. colourful. fun. SO EASY.
These Sprinkles Sugar Cookies might just be the perfect sugar cookie. And I am hella picky about my sugar cookies.
I want them buttery and soft, but chewy, not cakey. They must have a little almond extract (which you can leave out if you don’t like it but we may not be able to continue our friendship) and they must be easy to make.
I am not into chilling cookie dough friends. When I want cookies I want them yesterday. Also, if the dough has to chill the likelihood of me eating all the said dough before it even gets a chance to become cookies is very, very high.
I’m not that into rolling them out either… I mean, I’ll do it for the kids if I have to, but I won’t make a habit of it.
I believe the classic sugar cookie is pretty much cookie perfection. It is what a cookie should be before we add in things like chocolate and ginger and oats.
But what happens when you take the perfect cookie and drown it in sprinkles? A buttery, perfect sugar cookie with sugar sprinkles? It becomes a party. The perfect cookie… all dressed up.
Scroll past the recipe if you’re looking for tips, substitutions, questions, etc. and details on how to make this recipe, but if you want to get straight to it, here’s my recipe-ish…
Sprinkles Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cake flour or another 1/2 cup regular flour
- 2 Tbsp dry milk powder*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp white vanilla extract**
- 1 tsp almond extract***
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles plus more for topping
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer cream the butter sugar and brown sugar until very light and fluffy – about 5 minutes on medium-high speed.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and almond. Mix very well again.
- Add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the sprinkles.
- Scoop onto parchment lined baking sheets (I use a 2 1/2 Tbsp scoop), rolling the top and sides of each dough ball into more sprinkles first, if desired.
- Flatten the cookies slightly with a glass or your hand.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Notes
**brown or pure vanilla works too
***can reduce to 1/2 tsp or omit if you don’t like almond
sprinkles sugar cookies Recipe ingredients, tips, substitutions:
Flour – I use a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour. A little cake flour makes them extra soft and tender, but this is optional… you can just use all regular flour.
Sugar – I use regular white sugar in these cookies with a little bit of light brown sugar as well, which adds moisture and also ups the chewy factor.
Butter – I use salted butter so increase the salt a pinch if you use unsalted.
Eggs – this recipes uses one egg and one egg yolk and the reason for that you can probably guess… yep, more chewiness.
Vanilla Extract – this might be controversial, but I use clear vanilla in these cookies. It’s my favourite for giving that birthday cake-esque flavour. You can use pure vanilla extract if you prefer.
Almond Extract – this might also be controversial because I know some people dislike almond flavouring which I will tell you absolutely confounds me. If you can’t have it then just leave it out.
Sprinkles – regular rainbow sprinkles work best. Nonpareils will bleed in the cookies when they bake. But, you can use them on the outside and they are super cute… see the picture at the bottom of my post to see what they look like.
Sprinkles Sugar Cookies Recipe Variations:
White Chocolate Version – fold in 3/4 cup white chocolate chips along with the sprinkles
Chocolate Peppermint Version – add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract to the batter, and another 1/4 tsp to the frosting. Top the cake with crushed candy canes.
Chocolate Orange Version – add 1 tsp orange zest to the batter.
sprinkles sugar cookies Recipe, how to make it…
Start by mixing up the flour, baking powder, and salt like you’re a pro baker (because you are aren’t you? same.). Set this aside.
Using an electric stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it’s so light and fluffy you’ll want to spread it out and take a nap on it (don’t though). This takes a good 5 minutes on medium-high speed, so be patient and don’t rush the process.
Now toss in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix madly again until everything is beautifully combined – this is not the part of the baking recipe where I lecture you about over mixing. That’s coming up next…
Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix just until you can’t see streaks of flour anymore. That’s enough! Here’s the lecture – don’t overdo it.
Fold in the rainbow sprinkles with love and care (or wild abandon, totally your choice) and if you’re feeling fancy, roll the tops and sides of each dough ball in even more sprinkles for maximum sprinkle coverage. Use a 2 1/2 tablespoon scoop to keep things even and plop dough balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can make these as simple drop sugar cookies, but your shape won’t be as defined.
Flatten each cookie gently with the bottom of a glass or your hand – not a lot – just enough to give them a head start in spreading out.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. You’re looking for edges that are lightly browned & set and centres that are still soft. Ideally you now let them cool a bit before diving in… that’s just a suggestion.
looking for some more easy and fun cookie recipes? try these…
- These Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies are one of my all time faves. Chewy and loaded with brown butter deliciousness,
- Peanut Butter Almond Flour Cookies with M&Ms!!
- Fireball Whiskey Cinnamon Heart Cookies because grown ups need fun cookies too!
- White Chocolate Peppermint Pretzel Cookies – for the holidays… or any day.
- My Costco Raspberry Crumble Cookies are one of my most popular recipes and they are even better than the originals.
If you like this Sprinkles Sugar Cookies Recipe let me know what you think in the comments below and please find and follow me on Social Media!
