These frosting filled cookies combine creamy, not-too-sweet buttercream and buttery chocolate chip cookies. They are gourmet, bakery-style cookies that make a fun birthday cake alternative! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Frosting Stuffed Cookies
If you’re the type of person who scrapes the icing off your cupcakes and tosses it in the trash (shame on you!), you might want to hit the back button…
Now that we have all the *normal* people with us, I’m thrilled to share my latest gourmet cookie creation! These frosting filled cookies combine a few of my very favorite things: chocolate chip cookies, buttercream frosting, and sprinkles! They’re super thick, completely over-the-top, and so much fun.
This recipe took a lot of tweaking, but I’m finally very happy with how it turned out, and I think you’re going to love it.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Impressive, bakery-style results. Between their huge size, bright sprinkles, and variety of chocolate chips, these cookies look professional and just so pretty. And once people discover that frosting surprise inside?! Be prepared for compliments!
- Borrows the same easy technique from a few of my other gourmet cookie recipes (specifically my Oreo cheesecake cookies and strawberry cheesecake cookies). We’ll simply make our filling, chill it, and then stuff it into the cookie dough. It’s simple, I promise!
- Not too sweet! Despite the buttercream filling, these cookies aren’t overpoweringly sweet. It took a lot of work to get it to this point, namely reducing the sugar in the dough, tempering the frosting with a little acid, and using cake flour for thicker, softer results. This thicker dough also holds in the filling beautifully!
- Makes a fantastic birthday cake alternative, just like my cookie cake, birthday crumb cake, and birthday cake cookies.
What You Need
Let’s review a few of the key ingredients in these frosting filled cookies before we start baking.
- Cake flour. I prefer to use cake flour for these cookies for a thicker, softer texture. You can use all-purpose flour instead (substitution instructions below), but the final texture will be firmer and not quite as tender.
- Butter. This may seem like a lot of butter for just 14 cookies, but remember–these are BIG, bakery style cookies and we are filling them with buttercream, after all. Note that I do prefer salted butter in the frosting; if you don’t have any, you can just add a pinch of salt in with your butter for that part.
- Sugar. We’ll use granulated and light brown sugar in the cookies and save the powdered sugar for the frosting filling. Note that this recipe does use less sugar in the dough than most of my other cookie recipes; this is intentional! Since we’re getting plenty of sweetness from the buttercream frosting, we don’t want the cookies themselves to be too sweet.
- Chocolate chips. I use a blend of mini chocolate chips, regular semi-sweet chips, and white chocolate chips. This adds a fun pop of chocolate in each bite!
- Lemon juice. This may seem like a strange ingredient, but it helps tone down the sweetness of the buttercream. I promise it won’t make your frosting taste like lemon (though I do have a fantastic lemon frosting!).
SAM’S TIP: Avoid non-pareils, as they could stain your cookie dough. I prefer to use jimmies or the flat, round sequin-shaped sprinkles (called quins).
As always, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Frosting Filled Cookies
Prepare the Dough
- Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy, then stir in the eggs and vanilla. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until combined, then fold in the mix-ins.
- Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days. While your dough chills, you can prepare the frosting.
Make the Frosting
- Cream the butter until smooth, then gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice, then fold in the sprinkles. Scoop dollops of frosting onto a wax paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer.
Assembly
- Roll ¼ cup scoops of dough into smooth balls, then indent the centers with your thumb to make a nest. Add your frosting dollops, then smooth the dough around them. Bake until the bottoms start to turn light golden brown, then remove and let cool completely before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: Don’t over-bake! If you do, your cookies could turn out hard and dry. The key here is to let the cookies finish baking outside the oven on their cookie sheets. They will still look a bit underdone on the tops when you remove them from the oven and while they are still warm. Once they cool though, they will be perfectly soft and chewy (and the bottoms, when you flip them over, should be only light golden brown)!
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope! The butter in the frosting is stabilized by the sugar, so there is no refrigeration necessary here. You can store your frosting filled cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for 4 days.
Ultimately it’s difficult to say without having tried it. This frosting filling was carefully made to not be so thin that it would just ooze out of the cookie. Another frosting like Swiss meringue buttercream or ermine frosting may not handle the heat of the oven so well and may not even look as nice after baking, so while most thick buttercream frosting should work, you’ll want to proceed with caution. Most frosting is also quite sweet, and even more-so when paired with the cookie dough, so this one was again specially engineered to work well with the cookie dough whereas another might not be so complementary.
It can be a little hard to tell since the tops don’t get especially golden brown. My recommendation is to check the bottom edges of your cookies; if they are starting to turn light golden brown, they’re done. The cookies will still seem underdone after you remove them and while they’re still warm, but they should firm up once they’ve cooled completely.
Keep scrolling to see a few more of my favorite stuffed chocolate chip cookie recipes.
Enjoy!
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Frosting Filled Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie dough
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or imitation vanilla
- 4 cups (450 g) cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- ⅔ cup (120 g) mini chocolate chips (see note)
- ⅓ cup (56 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup (56 g) white chocolate chips
- 3 Tablespoons (40 g) sprinkles or jimmies
Frosting filling
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) salted butter softened (see note!)
- 1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or imitation vanilla
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons (26 g) sprinkles or jimmies
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
Cookie dough
- Combine butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until light, fluffy, and well-creamed (about 2 minutes on high-speed).1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well until combined.2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or imitation vanilla
- In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.4 cups (450 g) cake flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon table salt
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.
- Add chocolate chips and sprinkles and stir until well incorporated into the batter.⅔ cup (120 g) mini chocolate chips, ⅓ cup (56 g) semisweet chocolate chips, ⅓ cup (56 g) white chocolate chips, 3 Tablespoons (40 g) sprinkles or jimmies
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before proceeding. Prepare the frosting filling.
Frosting filling
- Place the butter in a medium-sized mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until smooth.6 Tablespoons (85 g) salted butter
- Gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined.1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar
- Add vanilla and lemon juice and stir well.½ teaspoon vanilla extract or imitation vanilla, ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- Gently stir in sprinkles until incorporated.2 Tablespoons (26 g) sprinkles or jimmies
- Scoop frosting onto 1 Tablespoon-sized scoops and place on a wax paper or parchment paper lined baking sheet or plate (you should get 15-16 scoops) and place in the freezer to firm up while the dough finishes chilling (if dough is already finished chilling, leave it in the fridge and let the frosting freeze for at least 15 minutes). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F (190C).
Assembly
- Remove dough from refrigerator and scoop into ¼ cup portions (83g) (if it's still too sticky to manage, just refrigerate longer). Roll between your palms until smooth then use your thumbs to make an indent into the center of the dough ball. Remove a scoop of the frosting filling from the freezer and press it into the center of the dough, then form the dough back around the frosting and gently form into a smooth ball. Repeat with remaining dough and frosting (you may have a scoop or two of frosting left over, this is fine).
- Place cookies at least 2” (5cm) apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheet and transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) oven. Bake for 12-13 minutes. When finished baking cookies will still be quite pale on top but the very bottoms will be beginning to turn a light golden brown. (note: for thicker, rounder cookies, chill the assembled cookie dough balls for 15 minutes or longer before baking).
- Allow cookies to cool for at least 15 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying. If cut into while still warm, cookies will appear under-done in the center but will not if allowed to cool completely.
Notes
Vanilla extract
Imitation vanilla will give you more of an artificial “Funfetti”/cake batter flavor whereas classic vanilla has a more, well, classic flavor.Cake flour
I recommend cake flour for the best texture. If you use all-purpose, the cookies will not be as soft. If substituting all-purpose flour you will need 3 ⅔ cups or 450g.Chocolate chips
I like to use a blend of white, mini, and semisweet chocolate chips, but you can mix and match these as you’d like.Sprinkles
Sprinkles/jimmies or quins (flat round sequin-shaped sprinkles) work best here. Non-pareils will work but are less ideal as they could bleed through the batter.Butter for buttercream
I preferred the taste of the frosting filling when made with salted butter, but if you opt to use unsalted simply add a rounded ⅛ teaspoon of salt in with the butter.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Cookie dough balls may also be prepared and frozen according to my instructions on how to freeze cookie dough. Cookies baked from frozen will not spread as much and typically will need a few minutes longer in the oven.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Recipe note: I originally published a frosting filled cookie many years ago in 2015, but a number of people ran into issues with the cookies spreading too much, being too sweet, and the frosting oozing out. I’ve since revamped the recipe to fix this issue.
Denise | Sweet Peas & Saffron
Sprinkles make the world a better place…no such thing as ‘too much funfetti’ ๐ These look beyond amazing! Wishing I had a stack of them in front of me right now!
Dani @ Dani California Cooks
These are so fun!! And the texture of these cookies looks spot on…
Mir
These cookies are pretty exciting. No wonder your oven is tired! Just from the exertion of producing all the brilliance! That center looks INCREDIBLE.
Andel
Wow wow wow!! Like many other fans, I don’t even look at any other recipes, I JUST browse Sugar Spun Run! Another incredible recipe that came out perfectly, thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the sweet comment, Andel! We are so happy you enjoyed them ๐ฅฐ
Katalina@ Peas and Peonies
OMG sam, that filling is the bomb and I love the sprinkle overload too!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout
Frosting IN cookies is so next level! Love that these funfetti cookies have chocolate in them too ๐ Pinning!
Ana | Espresso My Kitchen
These look awesome and super fun Sam! Love the icing addition ๐
I need to take a three day weekend off or more like a week to just cook and bake and test a bunch of recipes! I bet everyone was enjoying all the sweets you made this weekend!
Harriet Emily
These are stunning Sam! I love the idea of the icing surprise in the middle, it’s such a fun twist! And funfetti sprinkles are the best. What a perfect recipe! ๐
mila furman
I have taken days off with the intent of cooking and blogging…and instead ended up doing everything else except that ๐ go figure! These look super cute honey!!! And delicious may I add! What a great way to amp up a chocolate chip cookie!