Sprinkle Party Cookies
A sugar cookie dough is filled with brightly colored rainbow sprinkles for a fun and festive cookie to share at any New Year celebrations.
This cookie is simple to put together, is a great activity for kiddos to help, bakes up in 10 minutes, and requires no chill time. The clear vanilla extract gives this cookie a cake batter flavor and it’s a great cookie for any party.
I make these cookies often for class parties and birthdays, and while planning our new years menu thought, hey, this would be a great celebratory for those that don’t imbibe. The bright colors, soft texture, and cake batter flavor give it all the necessary party vibes for a great cookie addition to bring in a new year.
Sprinkles do make everything better.
Why I Love This Recipe
Flavor-The addition of clear vanilla extract adds a cake like flavor to this cookie very similar to funfetti cake mix. The sugar cookie base is sweet without being too sugary and the sprinkles add a hint of candy like sweetness to the cookie. If you are wanting to add white chocolate chips to the dough, it will sweeten the dough.
Texture-This is a soft baked cookie that stays soft for few days at room temperature. When the cookies are fresh baked, they have crisp edges and a soft fluffy inside. The use of cake flour helps to create a soft and tender crumb on the interior of the cookie while keeping the cookie moist on the inside. The cookie will stay soft for days after baking and can be made several days in advance.
Great for Parties-This is essentially a funfetti cookie and is great for birthday parties or any celebration where you need a simple and fun cookie. I have scooped them into 2-ounce cookies but they can be smaller in to one-ounce cookies or larger as 3 ounce cookies.
Ingredients You Need
-Butter- unsalted room temperature butter.
-Brown & Granulated Sugar-
-Eggs
-Clear Vanilla Extract-this type of vanilla will give the cookie a very distinct cake batter flavor. I first used this after watching Christina Tosi talk about using it for her milk crumb cake years ago. After using the clear vanilla in cookies, it has a distinct artificial flavor that is synonymous with store bought cakes. You can use regular vanilla extract to substitute however it will not taste like cake batter.
-Salt-for flavor.
-Baking Soda & Powder
-Flour
-Cake Flour-this will give the cookies a tender and moist crumb. All purpose flour can be used to substitute.
-Cornstarch-to keep the cookies soft for days.
-Rainbow Sprinkles- the more the better! Any color of sprinkles will do, make sure they are jimmies as they will melt into the dough when baking and won’t bleed. Non-pariels tend to bleed colors as they are mixed into the dough.
-White Chocolate Chips-These can be added to the dough with the sprinkles. The chips will create a sturdier dough that will bake up taller than if left out. I chose not to include the chips because they make the cookie very sweet, and after Christmas dinner and desserts, I’m wanting a less sweet cookie currently. Usually though, I will include white chocolate chips.
Let’s Cookie
I place the butter and both types of sugars into a bowl of my stand mixer with a paddle attachment. A handheld mixer would work just as well here too. I cream the butter and sugars on medium high speed for 3 minutes or until the mixture is pale, fluffy, and creamy.
I scrape down the sides of the bowl then add in the eggs and vanilla. I turn my mixer on medium high and beat for 1 minute until the mixture is very creamy. I scrape down the bowl once during this time.
I add the dry ingredients, flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt then I mix on low speed. I let it mix just until the dough comes together.
Next, the sprinkles and white chocolate chips (if using) get added to the dough and mixed in until evenly incorporated. This is where my four year old and one year old came in to ‘help.’
I say ‘help’ because if you are a parent you understand the controlled chaos little kids are in the kitchen. I try to let my kids help when they can and adding in sprinkles and stirring dough was a great way for them to help without all of us going crazy.
Once the sprinkles are mixed in I used a 2-ounce cookie scoop to scoop out 16 portions of dough. During this time of me scooping the dough, I gave both kiddos a teaspoon of sprinkles each to play with on the kitchen counter. It’s all about yummy distractions for the kids while I quickly crank out cookies to bake.
After the dough was scooped I let the older kiddo help roll the dough in between our palms to smooth them out, while I gave the tiny one the cookie spatula to play with.
I preheated the oven to 375*F and placed 6 cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet to bake for 10-12 minutes.
At this time the dough had been played with slightly, the sprinkles half scattered on the floor and half eaten, and the fingers of my small children were sticky. I placed the remaining cookie dough in the fridge while the cookies in the oven baked and I cleaned up my tiny helpers.
After the cookie timer rang, I checked if the cookies were done, I know they are ready by the edges of the cookies being slightly golden, the tops puffed up and not wet. These cookies will stay on the paler side.
I let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before I transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. I place another 6 cookies on the baking sheet and leave the rest of the cookies to bake on a rainy day.
These make great party cookies and I hope you enjoy!
If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram and Facebook. New posts every Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!
Sprinkle Party Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract can sub regular vanilla extract but the clear will make the cookies taste like birthday cake.
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ cups rainbow sprinkles
- 1-2 cups white chocolate chips optional.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F. Take out 2 baking sheets with parchment for the dough.
- In a bowl, combine room temperature butter with both types of sugar until creamy.
- Add eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. No traces of eggs should be left in the batter.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cornstarch and stir until a soft dough forms.
- Measure out a cup and a half of sprinkles and add to the dough. Add the white chocolate chips at this time as well if using.
- Using a spatula fold in the sprinkles making sure not to overmix.
- With a 2 ounce cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out 16 portions of dough onto a baking sheet. If using a tablespoon scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough and roll between your palms to make a smooth round of dough.
- Bake 6-8 cookies per baking tray for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be pale but the edges will be golden brown, the tops of the cookies slightly domed, and not shiny.
- Cool the cookies on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
- Enjoy!
