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Sprinkle Cookies are what happens when a soft, chewy sugar cookie gets rolled through a full cup of rainbow sprinkles before baking, and they have become the official request for every birthday and school party in this house because they look like celebration and taste like a bakery. If classic is more your speed, our soft and chewy sugar cookies are the plain and perfect original.
One bowl, no chilling, and nine minutes in the oven, this is as easy as pretty cookies get.
Sprinkle Cookies Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 9 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 30 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 15 cookies
- ⚡ Calories: 201kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Buttery vanilla sugar cookie with crunchy candy sprinkles in every bite
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with our easy butterfinger cookies
Quick Answer
Cream softened butter and sugar, then mix in an egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt, then fold a half cup of rainbow sprinkles into the dough. Scoop 2 tablespoon dough balls, roll each one in the remaining sprinkles, and bake at 350F for 9 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet at least 10 minutes so they finish setting.
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Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Creaming builds the chew. Beating the butter and sugar together dissolves the sugar slightly and traps air, which gives these cookies their soft centers and slight bakery style crackle.
- Sprinkles inside and outside. Half the sprinkles flavor the dough while the other half coat the outside, so every cookie is edge to edge confetti.
- Jimmies hold their color. The classic rod shaped sprinkles are made to survive oven heat without bleeding, which keeps the cookies bright instead of muddy.
- No chilling required. The dough is sturdy enough to hold its shape straight from the bowl, so you are eating cookies 30 minutes after you start.
- Nine minutes is the magic number. Pulling them just as the edges set keeps the centers soft, they finish baking on the hot sheet.
- The cooling rest sets the texture. Ten minutes on the tray lets the centers firm up, moving them too early is how soft cookies break.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One bowl, no mixer required, no chilling, and done in half an hour.
- They are the most requested birthday and bake sale cookie we make.
- Sprinkle lovers should also try our confetti cake cookies for the cake batter version.
Key Ingredients
Simple sugar cookie staples plus a whole cup of sprinkles.
- Butter: Unsalted and softened so it creams smooth with the sugar. This is the flavor base of the whole cookie.
- Granulated sugar: A full cup keeps the cookies sweet, tender, and lightly crisp at the edges.
- Rainbow sprinkles: Use the rod shaped jimmies, not nonpareils. One cup divided between the dough and the coating.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla gives that classic sugar cookie bakery flavor.
- Baking powder: Just enough lift to keep the centers thick and soft.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Swap the sprinkles, change the party.
- Use red and green sprinkles for Christmas, pastels for Easter, or orange and black for Halloween.
- Add a quarter teaspoon of almond extract for a sugar cookie shop flavor.
- Fold in a half cup of white chocolate chips along with the sprinkles.
- Rolled in powdered sugar instead, this dough family becomes our snowball cookies, the cozy winter cousin.
How to Make Sprinkle Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gather the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.
- Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth and fluffy.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until just combined.
- Add 1/2 cup of the rainbow sprinkles and mix until they are spread evenly through the dough.
- Scoop 2 tablespoon dough balls and roll each one in the remaining sprinkles until fully coated. Place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 9 minutes, until the edges are just set. Cool on the baking sheet at least 10 minutes, reshaping with a round cookie cutter right out of the oven if needed, then move to a rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use jimmies, not nonpareils. The little round nonpareils bleed color into the dough and turn the cookies gray.
- Do not overbake. Nine minutes looks underdone in the oven, but the cookies set up perfectly on the hot tray.
- Roll generously. Press the dough balls gently into the sprinkles so the coating sticks through baking.
- Scoot them round while warm. A round cookie cutter swirled around each warm cookie fixes any wonky edges in seconds.
- Let the tray cool between batches. Dough on a hot sheet spreads before the oven even gets a chance.
- Measure the flour by spooning and leveling. Packed flour is the number one cause of dry, cakey sugar cookies.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Pile these sprinkle cookies on a platter for birthdays, bake sales, and class parties, the rainbow coating does all the decorating for you.
For a cookie tray with range, pair them with our Reeses peanut butter cup cookies and a pan of soft chocolate chip cookie bars.
They also make a sweet gift stacked in a clear bag with ribbon, maybe next to a jar of our edible chocolate cookie dough for the full treat box.
Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze the baked cookies for 3 months. The sprinkle coating keeps them looking party ready straight out of the freezer.
Sprinkle Cookies FAQs
Rod shaped sprinkles, called jimmies, are the best for sprinkle cookies because they hold their shape and color in the oven. Nonpareils, the tiny round balls, bleed dye into the dough and can turn the cookies muddy. Quins and confetti discs work but soften more.
Usually the butter was too warm or the flour was under measured. The butter should be softened but still cool to the touch, and the flour spooned and leveled. If your kitchen runs hot, chill the dough balls for 10 minutes before rolling in sprinkles.
Before. Rolling the raw dough balls in sprinkles lets the coating bake into the surface so it will not fall off. Sprinkles added after baking only stick if you press them into warm cookies, and even then they shed everywhere.
Yes. The dough keeps covered in the fridge for 2 days, let it sit out 15 minutes before scooping. You can also freeze rolled, sprinkle coated dough balls and bake straight from frozen, just add 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.
Do not overbake them, pull the cookies at 9 minutes when the edges are barely set, and store them airtight once cool. A slice of sandwich bread in the container keeps sprinkle cookies soft for days, the cookies borrow its moisture.
Not this one, the dough is designed to bake as soft, thick drop cookies and will spread too much for sharp shapes. For cutouts, use a firmer rolled sugar cookie dough and add sprinkles to the icing instead.
Made these Sprinkle Cookies? I would love to hear how they turned out, leave a comment and a star rating below!
Our white chocolate cranberry cookies are the chewy red and white cousin your cookie box needs.
Keep the cookie jar interesting with our crumble topped coffee cake cookies.
For the next baking project, our soft chocolate whoopie pies with marshmallow filling never miss.
Sprinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup rainbow sprinkles divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.1 egg, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Add 1/2 cup of rainbow sprinkles and mix well.1 cup rainbow sprinkles
- Use a two tablespoon cookie scoop to create cookie dough balls.
- Roll the cookie dough balls in the remaining rainbow sprinkles and then place the cookie dough balls covered in sprinkles about 2” apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 9 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet (at least 10 minutes) before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- If needed, re-shape cookies with a cookie cutter immediately after removing them from the oven.
Notes
- Make sure your butter is soft for that chewy cookie center.
- Use parchment paper for easy removal and to keep your cookie sheet pristine.
- Roll dough in extra sprinkles for that perfect combination of sugar and sparkle.
- After baking, let your cookies cool on a wire rack to maintain that soft center.
- For uniform cookies, use a large round cookie cutter or simply shape them with the palm of your hand.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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Been looking for a nice chewey sugar cookie recipe and this one fits the bill for us. I’ve made them twice so far. The second time, I ran out of sprinkles to roll them in, and they were still good and festive looking! Definitely only use the sprinkles, as the second time I made them, we found red and green sprinkles but the only ones I could find at the time also had the little nonpareils in them and I found them to be too hard. These will be on my cookie list going forward.