Several years ago I made a batch of sprinkle cookies for our annual Christmas cookie party. I’ve made a few tweaks to the original recipe to create the Babbling Abby Signature Sprinkle Cookie!

I love a good reason to bake. The reasons can be as fancy as I need something to bring for ________ occasion or as simple as I really just want to eat some raw cookie dough today. Both are valid, worthy reasons to break out my Kitchenaid to mix up a tasty treat.

Sprinkle cookie history

My mom and sisters and I throw a cookie exchange every December, and I found a sprinkle cookie recipe from Go Go Go Gourmet while browsing Pinterest to try one year. To me, sprinkles are the glitter of the baking world. Cheery, colorful, and totally fun. So, any recipe that calls for sprinkles is definitely worth a try. They were such a fun addition to the party that I’ve continued to make them year after year.

To date, I’ve probably made this recipe almost a dozen times and have adapted it slightly from the original to add a touch more sweetness and flavor and a whole heckuva lot more sprinkles! With its colorful exterior and soft and chewy middle, it promises to charm adults and children alike. No doubt, it will be the star of the party in all its sprinkly spunk!

Shortening, Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla

One of the reasons that I go back to this recipe year after year (outside of the obvious…SPRINKLES), is that the recipe is relatively easy. You’re essentially making a soft sugar cookie dough to start off with.

As a rule of thumb per my mama, you always add the shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla first. This trick works for literally ANY cookie or cake recipe your baking.

So, after you preheat the oven to 350°, you’ll want to mix all of the above, plus the cream cheese and almond extract, in your standing mixer until light and fluffy,

TIP: Do you ever forget to set out your butter to allow it to warm to room temperature? SAME. My best advice is to take it out of its paper and pop into the microwave straight from the fridge. 20-25 seconds at 50% power should do the trick. You do not want melted butter in this recipe. I do the same thing for cream cheese, but at 50% power for 15 seconds. And, don’t forget to remove it from it’s wrapper. No one needs to blow up their microwaves nuking cream cheese.

Dry Goods

Now, some baking experts have you mix all your dry ingredients separately and then add them to the wet mixture. Not I. First of all, I’m not a baking expert. Secondly, I like to minimize the amount of bowls I’m dirtying. #honesty

So, I advise you to add the flour to the wet mixture first, then sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda, and salt over top of the flour. Mix everything together and BOOM you have a lovely, soft sugar cookie dough.

Just add sprinkles

Time to remove any jewelry you have on your hands and give them a good scrub. I’ve tried using plastic serving gloves to roll out the dough, but it’s just not as effective as rolling with your bare hands. So, assure everyone your hands are clean and grab a big pinch of dough. Roll into a 1.5-2″ balls.

One of the major adaptations I made to the original recipe was the amount of recommended sprinkles. You want to roll the cookie dough balls COMPLETELY in sprinkles before you give them a good smush. A little shaker of sprinkles isn’t going to do. This sprinkle cookie needs FULL COVERAGE.

I’m recommending a good cup and a half of sprinkles. You may have some leftover, but it’s better to error on the side of MORE. Also, put them into a bowl so that there is a deep pool of sprinkles for the cookie dough balls to swim in.

Smush it real good

Once you’ve assembled rows of sprinked dough balls on a cookie sheet, find yourself a glass cup with a flat bottom and get to smushin’. S-smush it real good! I apply just enough pressure to flatten them to about a half-inch. I’ve found that these cookies don’t spread too much, so once flattened they only need to be about an inch apart.

Once smushed, put the tray of cookies into a 350° oven for 8-10 minutes. Do NOT overbake. They should be soft but firm to the touch – not hard and crispy – when you remove them. I leave them on the hot tray for about 3-5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Share your bake

If you make this signature Sprinkle Cookie recipe, I’d love for you to share it with me on Instagram! Find me at Babbling Abby!

Babbling Abby Signature Sprinkle Cookie

Recipe by Babbling Abby | Abby MullinsCourse: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

28

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

10

minutes

With its colorful exterior and soft and chewy middle, this Sprinkle Cookie promises to charm adults and children alike. No doubt, it will be the star of the party in all its sprinkly spunk!

Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter, room temperature

• 1.5 cups sugar

• 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp almond extract

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 3 cups all purpose flour

• 1 – 1.5 cups of round sprinkles

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350˚
• Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extracts in the bowl of your stand mixer.
• Add flour to wet mixture.
• Sprinkle baking powder, baking soda, and salt over top of flour and mix together until combined. Don’t overmix. Scrape down sides of bowl.
• Add sprinkles to a separate bowl so that there is decent sprinkle depth.
• Roll dough between your hands into 1.5-2in balls.
• Roll dough ball in sprinkles until completely covered.
• Place on cookie sheet, spaced approximately 1-1.5 inches apart .
• Flatten dough balls to 1/2in thickness with the bottom of a glass.
• Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until firm but soft. Allow to cool on sheet for 3-5 minutes and place on cooling rack. Store in air-tight container or sealed plastic baggie.

Recipe Video

Notes

• Forget to let your butter and cream cheese warm to room temp? No prob! Take the butter out of its paper, into a microwave safe dish and pop into the microwave straight from the fridge for 20-25 seconds at 50% power. Do the same for the cream cheese at 50% power for 15 seconds. You do NOT want either of these melted – just softened!

Headed a festive shindig and are in the mood for something savory over sweet? These Cheddar Almond Bacon Bites are a fan-favorite and easy peasy to make! Give them a try!