Sprinkles Sugar Cookies

What Are Sprinkles?

Also called "jimmies", sprinkles are teeny tiny pieces of candy that add color and texture to baked goods and are also used as a topping or decoration. They come in every color and a mixture of a variety of colors. Rainbow sprinkles are a mixture of many colors.

Why This Recipe Works

If you want to make amazing sugar cookies with sprinkles, you've come to the right place! 

This recipe is a simple rolled sugar cookie dough that mixes in minutes. Most recipes have you dip balls of sugar cookie dough into sprinkles. But this recipe has you put sprinkles in the dough and also on the surface of the dough for a double bounty of sweet crunchy sprinkles.

After mixing, the dough is shaped into a disk and chilled, and the chill time can vary from 2 hours and up to 24 hours. Then the cookie dough is rolled, cut, and baked for a colorful treat the whole family will love to make and eat.

So, let's cook!

Ingredient Notes

Here's what you need to make Sprinkles Sugar Cookies:

• All-Purpose Flour - Simple all-purpose flour is the best to use for these sugar cookies.
• Baking Powder - Baking powder will give a lift to the cookie as it bakes which makes the cookie less dense. If you use a cookie cutter with a very defined shape, you can omit the baking powder to get a cleaner shape that does not spread.
• Salt - Just a small amount of salt brings out the sweetness in everything.
• Salted Butter - I prefer salted butter since I generally have it in my fridge. If you use unsalted butter, increase the salt in this recipe from ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon. Also, make sure to use room-temperature butter.
• White Granulated Sugar - Perfect for this cookie, white granulated sugar will provide the right sweetness without too much moisture.
• Large Egg - This recipe requires one large egg. Do not substitute extra-large as they will change the ingredient ratios.
• Vanilla Extract - For this recipe, I use a clear imitation vanilla to keep the color of the dough light and bright.
• Almond Extract - A small amount of almond extract makes the flavor of this cookie extra delicious.
• Cream - A small amount of heavy cream will make this cookie more tender.
• Rainbow Sprinkles - These are also called "Rainbow Jimmies.  You can use any color of sugar sprinkles. I like the brightness of colorful rainbow sprinkles for these cookies. The sprinkles I use are sweet and include "natural flavors" which make the sprinkles smell like vanilla and butter and give the cookies a nice flavor.

Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities.

How to Make Sprinkles Sugar Cookies

Step 1 - Sift Dry Ingredients. Sift together the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt onto a large piece of parchment paper. Set aside for later.

Step 2 - Cream Wet Ingredients. Add butter and sugar to the large bowl of a stand mixer and beat the butter and sugar together using a paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy. 

Add the egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, and cream, and continue to beat until all is well combined.

Step 3 - Slowly Add Dry Ingredients. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat until the mixture has just come together as a stiff dough.

Step 4 - Fold in Sprinkles. Using a silicone spatula fold in half of the sprinkles.

Step 5 - Wrap and Refrigerate. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten it into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Step 6 - Preheat and Roll-Out Dough. Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the sugar cookie dough ⅛" thick.

Sprinkle the top of the surface of the rolled-out dough with the remaining sprinkles. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the sprinkles and cookie dough and lightly roll the sprinkles into the dough. Then, cut the dough into your favorite shapes.

Step 7 - Bake. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies are set and the edges are just beginning to turn tan in color.

Step 8 - Cool and Enjoy. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool. Serve and Enjoy!

Equipment

I prefer to use a stand mixer for making this cookie dough. However, you can use a hand electric mixer or even beat and mix the dough by hand with a whisk and wooden spoon.