Why is it that sometimes the simplest desserts are the hardest to find a good recipe for? Ya’ll know I love a good cake or brownie, but it’s hard to beat a good classic cookie. These Sprinkle Sugar Cookies are crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and packed with colorful sprinkles.
Recipe tips
- Sprinkles: I feel like I needed to dedicate a section here to sprinkles because there are so many different varieties and not all of them will work in this cookie. For this recipe I wanted to use classic jimmies. They hold their shape and provide little bursts of color and flavor in every bite. Another sprinkle that could be used are confetti quins. I love how pretty these are, and they will hold their shape and color as well! For these cookies do not use nonpareils. They’re small and add a great crunch but the color will bleed if you mix them into any sort of batter. If you would like to make a recipe using nonpareils, try these Christmas Kiss Cookies!
- Underbaking the cookies: This is essential to getting the texture right. I bake my cookies for 9 minutes on the dot and then remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet. Letting them cool on the hot pan will keep cooking them but at a lower temperature, not drying out the cookie entirely. If you prefer a dryer cookie, feel free to bake for 11 minutes. They’re still delicious, but I’m a sucker for a chewy cookie 🙂
- Corn starch: Do not skip the corn starch in this recipe! Corn starch gives the cookies that chewy texture (along with baking for the correct time) and makes them soft on the inside.
- Chilling the dough: Chilling the dough will help with two things: cookie spreading and flavor. These cookies will spread a bit when they bake but by chilling the dough for 30 minutes prior to baking, it will keep them from spreading too much! Also as the dough chills the flavor will enhance. It’s truly a win win 🙂
- Cookie dough scoop: I always get a ton of questions about what scoop I use, so I wanted to link the ones I used for this recipe! I like this set because it comes in 3 different sizes. For these cookies I used the large size. Using a cookie dough scoop gives you perfect cookie dough balls that are even and therefore will bake evenly!
- Baking sheet: For all of my cookie recipes you I suggest you use a cookie sheet. You can use a jelly roll however I find the edges of the cookies tend to brown a little faster and they bake differently.
How to make perfectly round cookies every time
This trick is totally optional but I use it anytime I bake cookies to ensure they are perfectly round every time! As soon as the cookies come out of the oven and while they are still hot use a large round cookie cutter, or something else round and larger than the cookies (I’ve used a glass or bowl before). Place it overtop of the cookie and move it around in a circular motion for 3-5 seconds, gently bouncing the cookie around inside. This will round the edges of the cookie out giving that perfectly circular shape. This will make your cookies pretty and uniform!
I typically have a bite of desert and can walk away, but these cookies I keep coming back to! They’re crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside, basically everything you want in a cookie 🙂 If you try the recipe please leave a comment and rating below! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Like this recipe? Please rate and leave a comment below 🙂
Halloween Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp corn starch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sprinkles
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in vanilla and the egg and mix until just combined.
- While the mixer is on low, add in the corn starch, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until everything is incorporated. Add in the sprinkles and mix on low until just combined.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a medium sized cookie dough scoop (about 2 ½ tablespoons of dough per cookie) scoop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If the dough seems soft, cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill the dough balls for 30 minutes or up until 24 hours. This will help to prevent the cookies from spreading and add flavor!
- Toward the end of the chilling process preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and arrange 4-5 dough balls about 2 inches apart. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookie are just set. They may seem underdone but they will be perfect! Remove from the oven and if you want perfect circular cookies use a round cookie cutter larger than the cookie to scoot them into a round shape. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cookie rack to cool completely.
I wish I could give this 10 million stars!! I’ve finally found the sugar cookie recipe of my dreams. It’s my favorite cookie and I’ve never been able to make them taste just right. My husband and I are over the moon that this one finally is it 🙂 I used arrow root powder, just under 4 tsps because I didn’t have corn starch and it worked perfectly! Thanks to Emily for this amazing recipe and for the quick help on the corn starch to arrowroot starch ratio 🙂 Make this recipe!!!
This makes me so happy! Love that you enjoyed them as much as I do 🙂
These are so good!! They were pretty easy to make and taste amazing! My ice cream scooper is probably more large than medium so my cookies were giant and needed more like 15-18 minutes. Also ran out of vanilla extract and subbed maple syrup and they tasted great! Would definitely make these again
Hi Madeline, so happy you enjoyed them 🙂
I made these for a Christmas dinner and no one could stop at just one! These are fantastic. Easy and beautiful. Totally the Christmas spirit and you could spin these into any holiday with different color sprinkles. We really enjoyed these.
Hi Leslie, yay! These are probably my favorite and I agree, it’s hard to only have one!!
How many eggs? In the recipe you left out eggs in the ingredient list I would love to make these!
Hi Kristen! There is 1 egg in the recipe 🙂
Hi! If you don’t have corn starch, could you just leave it out? 😬
Hi Katerina! Here is a calculator people have sent me that they use to convert the recipe from cups to grams. Hope this helps 🙂 https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cups-grams.php
This cookie recipe is amazing! I made it last Saturday for a holiday Christmas party and they were a hit. I can’t wait to make more this weekend for Christmas. Make sure you take them out at the 10 minutes mark and let’s them cool bake on the pan afterwards like in the instructions. It gives it the warm and gooey texture 😋
Yes the warm and gooey texture is what makes these so good! So happy you liked them Marco 🙂
Hi! I’m a huge fan of your recipes. Is there any chance you can give us also the ingredients in grams? for example the 3/4 cups of butter…is it salted butter right? not unsalted…
Thank you so much! Greetings from Mexico♥
Hi Danya, so happy you like my recipes! I always bake with salted butter but if you prefer you can use unsalted. As for the ingredients in grams, here is a calculator people have told me they use to convert from cups to grams. Hopefully this helps 🙂 https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cups-grams.php
Wow! We are cookie testing this year and these are hands down the best I’ve had. My chocolate cookie obsessed husband is a huge fan! I added a half cup of white chocolates to these and they turned out delicious. Any chance you can include the nutritional information? Love love love these!
Ohhh adding white chocolate sounds like a great idea! I will work on adding nutritional info, thank you for the suggestion!
Love them! Made them tonight and they where awesome 😍
So happy you loved them 🙂
I forgot to chill the dough and it spread out too much. I tried a second time and chilled the dough for 30 minutes as suggested and they came out great! Super fun and I think I’ll make these every Christmas they were a hit with my children.
Glad you liked them Stacy 🙂
Absolutely loved!! The best sugar cookies I’ve ever had. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Great recipe! I look forward to customizing sprinkle colors for events and holidays! Thanks!
Hi, I just wanna say thank you for this recipe. I made this cookies for co-workers, and they really liked it.
Hi! Do you have any suggestions for replacing the egg in this recipe? I would love to make them, but can’t use eggs.
My cookies spread and I chilled the dough. Not sure what i did wrong. I tried adding more flour even but it didn’t work.
I am so excited to make these again for Christmas! I’m wondering if I can make them and put the dough in the freezer for a few days and bake them once it comes to room temp — would they still be the same texture as if I only chilled for the advised 30 minutes?
Can I freeze these? Will the texture still be the same?
Hi
How far in advance can you make the dough?
I followed recipe and mine taste too much like flour. What could I have done wrong
Just wondering if these cookies could be baked in advance and frozen ?
Thank you
Yes this recipe freezes really well baked or as cookie dough!
This cookie was sooooo perfect for one of my Christmas gifting cookies!!! The perfect texture!! I want to make them again but use mini chocolate chips instead of sprinkles. Do you think it would turn out? I’ve been searching for a chocolate chip cookie with this exact texture and I may try it.