Buttery soft sugar cookies exploding with sprinkles and topped with a simple swirl of vanilla frosting. And more sprinkles.
How typical. An explosion of sprinkles and sparkles and ornaments and sugar for one of the last recipes in my annual Sally’s Cookie Palooza.
But these here cookies? Well, they’re anything but ordinary. They’re the kind of buttery, soft and chewy sugar cookie that will make anyone, of any age, smile ear to ear. They’re the first to go on platter of Christmas cookies. A birthday, holiday, any celebration kind of cookie. A sprinkled dessert so jolly, they’ll make Santa blush. I call these sprinkle cookies “supreme” because that’s just what they are.
Supremely awesome. Just like my triple chocolate scones.
This has to be one of the most tested cookie recipes to come out of my kitchen. For the past month, I’ve played around with my Soft-Baked Funfetti Sugar Cookie recipe, my Sugar Cookie Bars recipe, and the Frosted Sugar Cookie recipe in my cookbook. I wanted a recipe for frosted sprinkle sugar cookies that would yield a decent amount of cookies—whether that be for a party, a get together, a bake sale, a cookie exchange, whatever. I also wanted an easy sugar cookie recipe AND there had to be a plethora of sprinkles.
A tall order. I got to work.
Once I baked that winning recipe, I made four batches in two days. My refrigerator was home to more butter and eggs than anything else. I found sprinkles on my glasses and frosting on my pants. I noticed the frosting on my pants while out in public, for the record. I made two batches of these frosted sugar cookies with rainbow sprinkles (I buy them in bulk from here) and 2 batches with Christmas colored sprinkles.
What the heck do I do with all that sitting on my counter?? Let’s just say I’ve had some very happy, sugar-high friends leave my house recently.
Though the recipe itself is pretty straightforward, there are a few helpful tips to read before you begin. I really want you to make these! Not only because I live and breathe sprinkles, but because they are so good. Really really good. They blow any store-bought sprinkle cookie out of the water.
You’ll probably look at this recipe and wonder why I add an extra egg yolk and some cornstarch. Neither are traditional sugar cookie ingredients, you’re right. However, there’s a method to my madness.
For the egg yolk: though I could certainly use 2 full eggs instead of 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, I’ve learned through the years that the yolk is where all the goodness hides. Eggs are an indispensable ingredient when it comes to cookie baking; they aerate, aid in setting, provide structure, leaven, emulsify, and thicken. Most importantly? They are used as a binder in cookie recipes. Using more egg whites in a baked good typically yields lighter, fluffier desserts. More yolks create a denser treat with a richer flavor—which is exactly what we want in cookies like this! You know how my chocolate chip cookies are so chewy, thick, and fudge-like? The extra egg yolk plays a huge role in that.
Oh, and the eggs—make sure they are room temperature. Typically, when a recipe calls for room temperature butter, the eggs should be room temperature as well. That’s something I picked up on recently. Room temperature eggs incorporate quicker and more easily into the dough, which prevents your cookie dough from being overmixed and allows your cookies to have uniform texture among the batch.
For the cornstarch: if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know I love using cornstarch in some cookie recipes (another key tip from chocolate chip cookies and shortbread cookies!). It’s a miraculous little ingredient, pulling heavy weight in the chilling and baking process. It helps thicken your cookie dough as the dough chills and keeps your cookies soft as they bake. You will love how soft these frosted sugar cookies are!
Also… don’t forget to chill the cookie dough. I know I always remind you, but it’s so important. Set aside enough time to do so; your cookies will spread into one massive, unattractive cookie… mess… on your baking sheet if the dough is not sufficiently chilled.
Even though the cookies are supreme, I think the frosting is the star of the show. I love this vanilla frosting. I like to add a pinch of salt to offset its sweetness. Especially when it’s spread onto an already sweet sugar cookie.
Enjoy, sugar cookie lovers.
Print
Sprinkle Cookies Supreme
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 30 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Buttery soft sugar cookies exploding with sprinkles and topped with a simple swirl of vanilla frosting. And more sprinkles.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar*
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sprinkles, plus more for decor on top of frosting*
Frosting
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 and 1/4 cups (270g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream or half-and-half*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- For the cookies: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Get it nice and smooth, then add the sugar on medium speed and beat until fluffy and light in color. Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, and salt together until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different parts. The dough is quite thick and will be a little crumbly at first. But if you keep mixing, the dough will come together. Once combined, gently beat in the sprinkles on low speed until evenly disbursed. Cover the cookie dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory. Alternatively, you can roll the cookie dough into 1.5 Tablespoon balls and chill on a cookie sheet (covered) and then bake as directed in the next step.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and let sit out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3 hours, allow to sit at room temperature for 30-40 minutes. This makes it easy to handle, while still keeping a firm texture from chilling. Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C) and line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough in each ball (a medium cookie scoop is helpful for this), and set on cookie sheet—about 8-9 cookies per sheet. Bake in batches for 11-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. The cookies will still appear very soft in the centers. That’s ok; they’ll set up and become firmer as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheets for 3 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy—about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more cream if frosting is too thick, or a pinch more of salt if frosting is way too sweet.
- Frost the cooled cookies as desired and decorate with more sprinkles. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator up to 6.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Unfrosted cookies freeze well. Cookies may be rolled into balls and frozen up to 3 months to bake at a later date. No need to thaw frozen balls of dough before baking; simply bake for an extra minute or two. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Cream of Tartar: Used to react with the baking soda; it cannot be left out. If you’re curious about using baking powder instead of baking soda + cream of tartar, I’m unsure of the exact amount needed to properly leaven the cookies. Update 8/2016: It would be about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
- Sprinkles: For the cookie dough, avoid using nonpareil sprinkles (the little balls)—they bleed their color. You may decorate the frosting with nonpareils (like I did).
- Cream: Cream or half-and-half is preferred for creamiest, fluffiest frosting. Keeping that in mind, milk would be an OK substitute if you do not have either on hand.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
For a cookie cutter sugar cookie, try my soft cut-out sugar cookies. Decorate them with easy cookie icing or royal icing for the holidays! For decorating inspiration, see my how to decorate sugar cookies post.
See more recipes with sprinkles. There’s… a lot.
Hi! Love your recipes and just made this dough. Can the frosting be made a day or so in advance? Thank you!
I’m curious if you think these would work as a larger cookies, approximately 3 ounces each? Would you just make each ball 3 ounces and then press down some?
Hi Keri, we haven’t tested that but let us know if you do!
I loved this recipe! I just had one question on how to get my cookies more flattened? I rolled them up as shown in the pictures but they came out way more puffy than I would have thought!
Hi Chelsea! How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
This is the best recipe for sprinkles cookies! I make up the dough and then after only 1-2 hours I scoop it out and freeze. They bake well from frozen or if I thaw in the fridge overnight. I’ve made them with all kinds of sprinkles (just always jimmies) for different holidays. They are also fantastic when made into a sandwich cookie using the frosting.
Hi Sally,
Made these a couple times and they are delicious. Quick question, can I scoop and roll the balls and then refrigerate for three hours before baking or does it need to chill before scooping/rolling? Scooping the cold dough can be a little hard. Thank you in advance!
Hi Jessica, you can roll before chilling if you prefer! We find it can be difficult to roll the sticky dough before chilling, but either way will work.
I found your website while looking for some fun cupcake ideas for my friend’s virtual Zoom baby shower (even though only immediate family were present, they deserved fun cupcakes!). I’ve since started to test out some of your cookie recipes and these are a hit! Thank you for great recipes, instructions, and explanations. I love your site so far.
For anyone interested in alternative dough chilling time in the freezer, I experimented with the following:
1. I chilled all of the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. After an hour, I wanted to speed up the baking time so I took some of the dough out of the fridge and chilled it for 45 minutes. I baked these cookies as instructed and they came out perfect!
3. For the remaining dough, I let it chill for an additional 2 hours in the fridge (total 3 hours). They came out the same.
I love these cookies and want to make them for the weekend but I am out of sprinkles (only have non parilels for decorating). Can I make them without sprinkles and would any extra sugar, etc be recommended?
You can definitely leave out the sprinkles without making any other changes. Enjoy!
Getting ready to make these with blue and pink sprinkles for a gender reveal. What do you think of putting almond flavoring in the frosting instead of vanilla…or should I use both. Love the almond flavor so wanted a bit of it?
I love putting almond extract in my buttercream! I use one tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract. Enjoy!
Chilling these tonight and will bake tomorrow! I already made the Christmas sparkles (I LOVED them and found myself having one (or 2!) with my morning coffee the past 2 days..). I think my teens may prefer these bc they don’t have the almond extract. My little nephews were a fan of the mini m&m cookies…they are already gone and your cranberry orange cake is cooling in loaf pans right now. YUMM! I say all this to say I LOVE your blog and Instagram. I have never made anything that wasn’t a total hit and I sent your cookbook to my girlfriend for a Christmas gift as she loves to bake. So glad I discovered you and thank you thank you for all the wonderful recipes! Merry Christmas!
These are a HUGE hit with my family – they constantly ask me to re-make them. I refrigerate them on a cookie sheet after they’re frosted and decorated to get the frosting to “set” and then stack them in a Tupperware in the fridge for storage so I can stack several layers of cookies on top of each other. I take them out and let them sit (on a plate) for a bit before serving. It’s too warm in CA in the summer to keep them out on the counter – the frosting would melt and they’d all stick to each other. Thanks Sally for always sharing such great recipes! I love them!
Made these two days ago, and they ARE WONDERFUL!!! Thank you. They did deflate slightly upon cooling; any idea why that may have happened? I would love to have the finished cookie appear fluffy, like those shown above. Many thanks, and Merry Christmas! : )
Can I omit the sprinkles in the batter? I have the non pareils for the top but not the jimmies… thanks!
You can leave them out, yes.
Hi Sally! Love your blog and all your recipes! I would like to bake these for the weekend, but since I’m baking them for an older audience, I was wondering, would the taste come out the same without the sprinkles? Also, if I added royal icing, would that make the cookie too sweet? thank you!
Hi Beatrice! You can certainly leave out the sprinkles. Royal icing will be just fine, but yes– the cookies will be quite sweet.
I made these as Christmas cookies tonight and, can I say, they’re amazing! The frosting really puts them over the top into the “wonderful” bracket. 🙂
I used regular colored sprinkles (“jimmies”) but decorated the top with just a smidge of red or green sugar. They’re adorable and so festive!
Thank you for all the great recipes (I’ve made several). I am so glad I found your blog!
I made the dough for these and the white chocolate chip cranberry cookies. I have a ?? In the recipe you say that the dough will be thick and almost crumbly at first. Well my dough was so wet and sticky that i couldn’t roll them into balls. Even after i put the dough in the refrigerator. What did i do wrong? I followed the ingredients in the recipe.
Are you adding enough flour? Changing the ingredients at all? Make sure your 2 sticks of butter aren’t melted in the slightest. Room temperature, but still a little firm.
Thank you so much for this easy, delicious, sugar cookie recipe! Came out terrific, with or without frosting!
Sally, I just made these cookies yesterday and they are absolutely delicious. Even my friend was in love with the chewy texture of the cookie.
Thank you so much for such an amazing recipe!
Oh my goodness, Sally! These cookies are AMAZING! I made them with my kids today and they love them, as do I! We never even got to making frosting, I was having a hard enough time keeping my kids from eating the dough!
I’ve made so many of your recipes by now, and I am so grateful to you! Your recipes have never failed me. I love being able to bake something fabulous for my friends and loved ones, baked goods seem to make everyone happy! Thank you for such wonderful, easy to follow recipes and such beautiful photos.
I just made these cookies this weekend and they are so GOOD! I think they are my new favorite cookie even without the frosting! Thanks for all your great recipes.
These are incredible! I made them a second time today, and they are chilling right now. I made them with the little jimmies instead of nonpareils (just because of personal preference) and the rich, buttery texture of these reminds me of those sprinkley Mrs. Field’s butter cookies. I make these without the frosting and just eat them plain because I’m lazy and they are so good even by themselves (one day I’ll have to try them with the frosting because they look delicious in the photos). Thank you! This is my favorite cookie recipe from you Sally!
(P.S. If anyone was wondering about the CREAM OF TARTAR substitute and conversions, I looked it up and the amounts of leavening products I use in this recipe (that work beautifully from experience) are 1 TSP BAKING SODA and 3/4 TSP BAKING POWDER (to replace the 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and 1 1/4 tsp of baking soda).
Hello! These and your cake batter cookies look delicious! Are they rather similar? Not sure if I’ll have time to make both, but do you have a preference- I’m sure they are both delicious! What’s the biggest difference between the two? Thanks and have a great holiday:) Lauren
Lauren, my cake batter cookies taste like that– cake batter and chocolate chip cookies in one. They’re quite popular on my blog and are even included in my cookbook. So yes, they are a favorite. These cookies taste more like butter/sugar cookies.
Does the frosting harden so I can put them in a cookie bag?
Hi Mariann, the frosting won’t harden per say, but it will set/crust enough that you can gently place them in cookie bags.
Sally, thanks for posting all of your recipes. I’ve loved every single one I’ve tried. Is it possible to roll these out and use cookie cutters on these? I know you have a separate recipe for sugar cookie cut outs but I was just wondering if this recipe would work as well ? Thanks again!
It would not– this is a dough for drop cookies.
I am so glad you posted this recipe for Christmas. My dough is chilling in the refrigerator as I type and I know already that I made one mistake-I should have doubled the recipe!!! Thank you so much!!!