Fun, colorful, Sprinkle Cookies! Soft, buttery, chewy cookies encased in a colorful sprinkle shell! Oh, and did I mention that there’s no chilling necessary!?
Happy Friday!
It also happens to be Zach’s birthday today and while I’d love to say I made these sprinkle cookies to celebrate, unfortunately that’s not the case. The man hates sprinkles. I’m not even kidding here, he hates them. He loathes the texture (!?!), and he especially hates the way they get all over the house every time I make anything that uses them.
For his birthday he asked that I make him my chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting, and he was adamant that not so much as a single sprinkle should adorn his cake. I guess at 29 he’s really falling into his grumpy old guy stride.
Anyway, rather than being a festive birthday share, it’s kind of ironic I’m sharing these sprinkle cookies on the birthday of the biggest sprinkle-hater in my life, but here we are. And I have no apologies because these sprinkle cookies are amazing. Soft and chewy on the inside with a candy-like sprinkle coating on the outside… he doesn’t know what he’s missing.
The base for these sprinkle cookies is a buttery vanilla cookie. I actually based it largely off of my Snickerdoodles recipe, and you’ll notice that this cookie recipe uses cream of tartar.
I wanted a cookie that was soft and chewy, but not overly sweet on its own. We’re adding a lot of sugary sprinkles to the outside, so a cookie with a subtle tang (thank you, cream of tartar) was the best choice to counter the sweetness.
AND, there’s absolutely no chilling required with this recipe. I have so many cookie recipes that require chilling, it’s nice to make cookies without needing to use the fridge for once!
Tips for Making Sprinkle Cookies
- Roll your sprinkle cookie dough through the sprinkles immediately after rolling. Immediately after rolling the surface of your cookie dough will be slightly warmed from your hands and sticky enough to pick up all the sprinkles that you roll it through. If you wait and roll out all of your dough and then go back to roll it, the surface will have lost its stickiness and won’t pick up as many sprinkles.
- Jimmies/traditional sprinkles will work instead of nonpareils. In my opinion I prefer the texture and snappy crunch of the nonpareils and I prefer the way the nonpareils completely coat the cookies, leaving much less cookie showing through than traditional sprinkles do.
- The centers of your cookies should be ever so slightly underdone when they finish baking. Let them finish cooling completely on the cookie sheet before enjoying. They’ll finish cooking here, too, and will be nice and soft (or at least the interiors will be).
Enjoy!
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Sprinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 1 ½ cups granulatedsugar (300g)
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose plain flour (375g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups nonpareil sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until well-combined
- Add egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt until completely combined.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet until completely combined.
- Scoop dough into Tablespoon-sized balls and roll between your palms until smooth and round. Immediately roll through nonpareils until cookie dough ball is completely coated with sprinkles.
- Place on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 1 ½” apart.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 9-10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet before serving.
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.
Stephanie
Hi there. Thank you for this delicious recipe. I made these yesterday and I used the OXO small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon), which weighed 15 grams, and I got 65 cookies. You state that you scooped yours at 1 tablespoon per cookie and your video looks like a small cookie scoop, but why the significant difference in the number of cookies? Can you tell me how you measured your “tablespoon”?
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Stephanie! I’m glad you enjoyed them! I actually use a tablespoon sized cookie scoop as well. Interesting that you got so many more than I did, but as long as they tasted good that’s what’s important! 🙂
Stephanie
Interesting. They were indeed delicious and so cute! Love all your recipes. Your site is top of my list to check out when I need a good recipe that works. 🙂 Thanks so much for responding.
Elizabeth
Hi! These cookies look so cute. I want to bake them for a party next week and was thinking of making them ahead of time and freezing them. Would it be alright to bake them and freeze them? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Elizabeth! That should work just fine. 🙂
Jeannine Suitors
Oh so lemony. I didn’t have extract so I used juice, still delicious!! Also, not a fan of powdered sugar, so used sugar crystals. So yummy! Thanks, Sam!!
Jessica Flores
Yesterday, I made these cookies and they are great! I want to make another batch, but I’m out of cream of tartar. What could I use a substitute for cream of tartar?
Sam
Hi Jessica! I haven’t tested it without the cream of tartar, but I think they’ll still turn out. The cream of tartar adds a nice flavor to the cookies. Let me know how it goes if you try it! 🙂
Edie
These are not only cute and fun but I swear these are the most delicious tasting cookie I’ve ever made or frankly ever eaten anywhere! Make these! You will be the hero…IF you don’t eat too many before sharing!!
Eltee
Such a fun recipe! Just wondering how long they’ll last if kept in an air tight container. Thanks!
Sam
They should be good for about a week in an air tight container. 🙂
Heather
Easy to make & my grandkids loved them.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So happy to hear that these cookies were a hit for you, Heather! Enjoy ❤️
Laks
Hi Sam, if I want to buy the non pareils, which brand would be the tastiest? I’m looking for one that is the least chemical tasting and whose color does not bleed..
Sam
I buy mine from Country Kitchen Sweet Arts. 🙂
Kathy
These cookies were so easy and fun to make. And the are delicious! Thanks for always sharing the BEST recipes.
Sam
Thank you so much, Kathy! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂