Soft-Baked Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

Recipe for soft-baked and chewy sprinkle sugar cookies.

I have several “go-to” base cookie recipes in my archives. From those base cookie recipes, you have the luxury of creating many spin-off cookies using the same dough. For example:

• My soft-baked chocolate chip cookie recipe is perfect for different add-ins.
• My soft & thick peanut butter cookie recipe is wonderful plain or with chocolate chips!
• And my super-thick chocolate cookie base recently won a Nestle baking contest.

And now we have a basic drop style sprinkle sugar cookie recipe!

How to Make Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

The ingredients are simple. You need baking soda and cream of tartar to lift these cookies. If cream of tartar is unavailable, try them with baking powder instead. To do so, follow my drop sugar cookies recipe.

The recipe makes a small batch and can easily be doubled for a large family, get together, or party. You’ll bake about 15 decent sized cookies from 1 batch. Just enough to place in your cookie jar.

There’s room for a ton of sprinkles. The dough is thick enough to hold a fair amount of the good stuff. In my recipe testing, I found that sugar cookie dough can be overly greasy, making it hard to incorporate sprinkles. Not these – they’re the perfect soft pillow for a magnitude of sprinkles.

I am quite certain that nothing compares to sinking your teeth into a soft, chewy sugar cookie. The cookies are so tender, they will melt in your mouth.

Soft-Baked Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

★★★★★ 4.9 from 13 reviews

• Author: Sally
• Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 12 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
• Yield: 15-16 large cookies
• Category: Cookies
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: American

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Description

My absolute favorite recipe for soft-baked, chewy sprinkle sugar cookies. There won’t be a crumb left!

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Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 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*

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Instructions

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. 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.
3. 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. If desired, lightly dip the tops of the cookie dough balls in more sprinkles. Place dough balls onto a large plate or lined baking sheet.
4. Cover and chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 4 days).
5. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
6. Arrange chilled cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
7. 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.
8. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

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Notes

1. Make Ahead 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. Click here for my tips and tricks on freezing cookie dough. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
2. Room Temperature Butter: Here’s my trick for softening butter quickly. Works every time.
3. 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.
4. Chill Cookie Dough: 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: sprinkle sugar cookies

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