Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

When it comes to sprinkles I’m a kid at heart. I can’t resist them, I love the colors, the shapes, the crunch… and there aren’t too many desserts that a layer of sprinkles won’t improve. Actual kids love them, too, and love to help make them, so if you’ve got bored housebound little ones hanging around on a snow day, whip up this quick sugar cookie dough and let them take it from there.

The dough comes together like magic in a food processor, no need for extra bowls or mess. You can see it has a beautiful velvety texture in the photo below. Just make sure your egg, butter, and cream cheese are at room temperature. There’s no need to chill it before baking, either. Love that.

Once you’ve rolled your balls of dough in the sprinkles and got them completely covered, you’ll press down gently to flatten them a bit. They bake up into the perfect shape, slightly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

These sugar cookies are just the excuse I need to out my sprinkle stash, I keep all the little bottles in a giant ziplock freezer bag so I can tote them around easily. Sprinkles last forever, so I’ve collected quite an assortment.

types of sprinkles for sugar cookies:

• Nonpareils ~ these are the itty bitty little round ones, and they’re the most historic of the bunch, dating back to the 1800s. They’re the messiest, too, and have a tendency to fly everywhere.
• Sprinkles  ~ (Jimmies, hundreds of thousands) these are the classic long shapes and my favorites. I’ll show you how to make them yourself, in this post: HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE SPRINKLES.
• Dragées and pearls ~ larger balls with a hard coating, often in metallic colors. While these are pretty, I find them less appealing to eat.
• Confetti ~ (Quinns) these are the little matte finish disks. They come in other shapes, too.
• Multi-shapes ~ nowadays you can get sprinkles in just about any shape you can imagine, from stars and hearts to little holly leaves, shamrocks, and snowflakes.
• Edible glitter ~ super glitzy shimmer, and comes in lots of colors.
• Colored sugar ~ all types, from superfine to large crystal. You can make your own colored sugar, it’s a fun diy project.

*You can also get all natural sprinkles, which are colored with vegetable dyes and are beautiful too, in a more subtle way.

I’m definitely a go big or go home type when it comes to sprinkles, and I like to pile them on, but getting those little guys to stick can be a challenge! When cookies bake, they expand, and the sprinkles spread out leaving gaps. Here are a few tips for getting that fully sprinkled look that everybody loves…

How to get sprinkles to stick to sugar cookies

Here are a few tips for achieving that perfectly sprinkled sugar cookie:

• Put the sprinkles in a small dish deep enough to cover the ball of dough. The deeper the sprinkles, the easier it is to fully coat the dough.
• Work with one cookie at a time, the warmth of your hands will soften the dough and allow the sprinkles to adhere better.
• Push the ball of dough lightly but firmly against the sprinkles to encourage them to thickly coat the surface.
• After flattening the cookies, add additional sprinkles to the top. As the cookie bakes and spreads, they will fill in gaps.

sprinkle sugar cookies make great gifts

These sprinkle sugar cookies are great for gifting because they’re nice and sturdy (and pretty!) Just let them cool completely and then you can package in cellophane bags or decorative boxes.