Yay! These are soft, chewy, sprinkle loaded drop sugar cookies made from only 8 ingredients. No rolling pin or cookie cutters required! To prevent over-spreading, make sure you chill the cookie dough balls for at least 2 hours before baking.
We all know and love sugar cookies. Rolling pin, cookie cutters, decorating galore. It’s all so much fun, especially around the holidays.
Drop Sugar Cookies
But what about sugar cookies of the *other* variety? Roll the cookie dough into balls and bake them drop-style. No fancy equipment or decorating required, unless you consider the mountain of sprinkles on top. (Is it even a sugar cookie if there’s no sprinkles?)
Today let’s ditch the rolling pin, toss the cookie cutters, and break out our mixers because it’s time to for drop style sprinkle sugar cookies. These buttery cookies are soft-baked, simple, and mega chewy. I can’t wait for you to try them!!
Video Tutorial
Cookie Chemistry
These drop style sugar cookies are based off of a familiar recipe: Soft-Baked Sprinkle Sugar Cookies. They’ve always been a favorite, but I often receive questions about the leaveners used. When testing cookie recipes, one problem I always face is finding the right amount of leavener. That recipe calls for baking soda and cream of tartar.
If you’re interested, it’s helpful to read my baking soda vs baking powder article. As you’ll learn, recipes calling for baking soda must also contain an acid such as sour cream, brown sugar, cream of tartar, or buttermilk. The acid reacts with the baking soda to create carbon dioxide, which allows the cookies to rise. In that recipe, I use cream of tartar because it’s mostly flavorless and doesn’t change the texture of the sugar cookies.
I reworked the recipe. Now I use baking powder instead of the baking soda/cream of tartar combination. (Baking powder already contains an acid so it doesn’t require any special ingredients.) Using too much baking powder leaves a bitter aftertaste, which was my problem a few years ago. Good rule of thumb I’ve learned since then: use around 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 1 cup of flour. Today you’ll use 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.
Science is definitely delicious.
How to Make Drop Sugar Cookies
You only need 8 ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, butter, egg, sugar, and sprinkles. That’s it! For extra flavor, feel free to add a splash of almond extract.
Preparing the cookie dough is easy. Whisk dry ingredients in one bowl and beat wet ingredients in another. Combine everything together. Sugar cookies get all of their flavor from butter and vanilla extract, so make sure you’re following the recipe closely. Proper room temperature butter is imperative.
Chilling the cookie dough is another non-negotiable. These drop sugar cookies are very buttery and the colder the cookie dough, the less they’ll over-spread. The cookie dough can get a little hard after 2 hours in the refrigerator, so I recommend rolling the dough into balls before chilling. Here are more tips on how to prevent cookies from spreading.
*Extras*
- Easily Double the Recipe: This recipe yields about 20 medium cookies. You can double the recipe if you need a larger batch for a birthday party, bake sale, or other event.
- Extra Sprinkles: We’re definitely testing the limits on “how many sprinkles is too many sprinkles?” here. You can skip the sprinkles or load them up like I do. I also like to dip the tops of the cookie dough balls into sprinkles before chilling/baking.
These drop sugar cookies will be a new staple in your cookie rotation, right next to your chocolate chip cookies! If you’re looking to use your cookie cutters, try my best sugar cookies instead.
Drop Style Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You can make these soft, chewy, sprinkle loaded drop style sugar cookies with only 8 ingredients! No rolling pin or cookie cutters required. Make sure you chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours before baking.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (80g) sprinkles, plus more for topping*
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Beat in 1/2 cup of sprinkles. Dough will be thick and sticky. Scoop large sections of dough (about 2 Tablespoons of dough each) and roll into balls. For extra sprinkle goodness, lightly dip the tops of the cookie dough balls in more sprinkles. Place dough balls onto a large plate or lined baking sheet.
- Cover and chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 4 days).
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Arrange chilled cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough, roll into balls, and chill the dough balls in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. (See note about cookie dough chilling.) Cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
- Special Tools: KitchenAid Stand Mixer | Measuring Cups | Baking Sheet | Silpat Baking Mat | Cooling Rack
- Sprinkles: Any sprinkles are great, but I recommend avoiding nonpareils (the little balls) as they tend to bleed their color in cookie dough and cake batter. I used these naturally colored sprinkles in the pictured cookies. If desired, you can leave out the sprinkles for plain drop sugar cookies.
- Dough Chilling: Chilling the cookie dough is imperative. These cookies are very buttery and the colder the cookie dough, the less your sugar cookies will over-spread. The cookie dough can get a little hard after 2 hours in the refrigerator, so I recommend rolling the dough into balls before chilling. Here are all of my tips to prevent cookies from over-spreading.
Keywords: sugar cookies, sprinkles
This is such a great recipe, and a great base for different additions. If you haven’t tried it, add a cup of chopped, toasted pecans. They are out of this world!! I double the recipe and end up with 30 – 34 medium sized cookies. I’ve added chocolate chips and peanut butter chips before, and they are heavenly. Another winning recipe from Sally. Thanks for making me a much better baker, my whole family appreciates it!
★★★★★
I make a lot of your recipes but I don’t think I’ve ever commented before. I
Made these cookies yesterday and WOW! Chewy and soft, so fun and happy. We all marveled that they somehow still taste like cookie dough after being fully baked. Another win! Thank you so much for your perfect recipes! ❤️
★★★★★
Delicious cookies, but the yield is way off. I used a 1.5 tablespoon scoop (the recipe calls for 2 tbsp scoop) and ended up with 16 cookies. I think the only way to get 20 cookies from this recipe would be to use a 1 tbsp scoop. I compared this recipe to sprinkle supreme one, and a half recipe of those cookies is basically the same as a full recipes of these. I just wanted to point this out in case someone is expecting a lot more cookies lol
★★★★★
My son wanted to make sprinkle cookies today. So we made these! They turned out really well with the basic round sprinkles. We just reduced the amount. They taste like a thick chewy sugar cookie. My kids used them to make ice cream sandwiches and they were perfect!
★★★★★
This recipe is amazing. I’ve made it three times now, including freezing some dough balls for someone. They are so good! I love the fun colors.
★★★★★
Can you use a fluffy icing on these cookies? Approximately after baked what is the diameter. I’m looking for a 4-5” cookie.
Hi Carolyn! You could top these cookies with vanilla buttercream like we do on these cakey sugar cookies. These cookies are probably closer to 2.5-3 inches in diameter, but you could make them larger. For larger cookies, it can be better to slightly reduce the oven temperature and bake for longer to encourage even baking.
These cookies turned out Perfect!!
Thank you!
Can either of these hold up to mailing?
Hi Gynene, these cookies would be great for mailing. Here’s a helpful post on the best way to ship cookies.
We love making these for friends birthdays or just because! Sprinkles make everything better! They always taste great!
★★★★★
Lovely recipe! The cookies are phenomenal and I can’t wait for my kiddos to package them up for their classmates! I am running into the same issue as the previous commentor, I made a double batch and used a slightly rounded tablespoon, hoping to get a couple more cookies and wound up only getting 36 cookies. It’s not too much of an issue as I’m easily able to make more, thankfully, but I just wanted to let you know that I did run into the same issue.
I’d like to prep the dough for my Mother and toddler son to bake together on Valentine’s Day (tomorrow!). If I make the dough tonight and roll into balls, would they still be able to add sprinkles on top of the dough balls before baking? I want my son to take part in the fun of decorating with sprinkles, but because I work full time, will need to prep the dough tonight. Thank you!
Hi Carissa! The sprinkles won’t stick to the cold dough as well, it may be best to let the dough balls sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or so before dipping in the sprinkles. You may want to refrigerate them again before baking to prevent spreading while they bake. Hope they’re a hit!
This recipe is 10/10 as per usual, but Sally girl this recipe was not enough for 20 cookies!! I used a 1.5 tbsp scoop (less than the 2 tbsp recommended) and ended up with 16 cookies. It was a little stressful having to bake up another half batch to have enough They turned out perfect, of course, but I have no idea why that happened.
★★★★★
That definitely seems off! Let me double check my notes on this. I’m glad you enjoyed these, though. Thanks for letting me know!
Trying these for my grandchildren for valentines. I used red and pink sprinkles.
Fabulous, fun, delicious! My granddaughter is going to love them!! Yours is my go-to baking site!!
★★★★★
Disappointing recipe. I was really looking forward to enjoying sugar cookies like the one in the pictures, but, despite preparing this recipe exaaactly as written, including chilling the dough balls for four hours, they DON’T flatten like the pictures. I used the appropriate amount of flour and my oven was at the appropriate temperature (because a recipe developer will often blame those two things IF their recipe doesn’t turn out). If one has to let the dough balls get to room temperature before baking them OR if they need to flatten them before baking, then the recipe developer should mention that in the instructions.
★★★
Hi Derek! No need to flatten these cookies before baking. May we ask how you measure your flour? Usually thick cookies are a result of too much flour in the dough. We always recommend spoon and leveling or using a kitchen scale for the most accurate results. Thank you for giving our recipe a try!
I have the same problem. The cookies are delicious but they don’t look like the ones here. Mine aren’t flat at all. I use kitchen scale of course, so the problem cannot be the amount of flour I use.
Am I able to substitute the white sugar for brown sugar?
Hi Sarina, we’d recommend these brown sugar cookies instead. You can roll those in sprinkles like do here.
I did try that recipe several times but they Had a tendency to turn out very flat. I’ve tried all of the tips from your article about keeping cookies from spreading. I wondered if maybe this recipe with the softened butter being creamed with the sugar rather than using melted butter might work better for me since I’ve had more success with creamed butter cookies in the past than I have with melted butter recipes.
The flavor the brown sugar gives to them is delicious though! If that kind of sugar won’t work with this recipe, no worries!