Sprinkle Covered Sugar Cookies are soft, chewy, vanilla flavored cookies. Change the color of the sprinkles to make them perfect for any holiday or event!
This is the last recipe in my series of Easter treats - Sprinkle Covered Sugar Cookies. If you haven't made any delicious treats for Easter yet, now is your chance. You can have a batch of these ready for the Easter baskets within a couple of hours!
I really like a good, old-fashioned sugar cookie. I know, they're plain and white, and don't have 5 different kinds of chocolate bars or whatever mixed in, as seems to be all the rage these days.
But I only like a certain kind of sugar cookie. They need to be thick, soft, and chewy. I don't like the paper-thin, cardboardy ones that end up getting slathered in icing.
These ones have a secret ingredient: almond extract. I love the flavor of it! I also use a generous dose of vanilla for extra flavor. The other ingredients are standard for cookies: flour, butter, egg, baking soda, salt, and of course, sugar. The little bit of brown sugar adds a bit more richness and helps keep the cookies soft.
How to make Sprinkle Covered Sugar Cookies:
The method for making these sugar cookies is the same as for most cookies: cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs and extracts. Once the butter mixture is soft and fluffy, stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Voila! You have cookie dough.
How do you make sugar cookies soft and chewy?
This recipe uses a secret ingredient to help keep these sugar cookies soft and chewy: Brown sugar. There's not a lot of it - not enough to give them a brown sugar/molasses flavor, but enough that it helps keep them soft.
This recipe also relies on chilling the dough before baking to prevent spreading in the oven, which keeps the cookies thick and chewy.
This is where we change things up a little bit. Normally, when you make sugar cookies, you roll dough balls in sugar (hence the name...). But, to make things just a little extra special and pretty, we're going to roll them in SPRINKLES!
Now, sprinkles are not all created equally. The good ones don't have much of a taste (just a bit of sweetness and crunch), but some are bad (mealy texture, taste like food coloring). So. If you don't want bad sprinkles to ruin your delicious cookies, taste them first. If you don't like them, don't use them.
Once you've got all your cookie balls rolled, slightly flatten them with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass. Then let the prepared cookie dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to make sure they don't spread too much in the oven.
You can even freeze them at this point to bake later. Once you're ready to get baking, take them out of the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature on the baking sheet while the oven heats up.
Sprinkle Covered Sugar Cookie Ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract: skip if making these cookies for someone with a nut allergy.
- Sprinkles (either non-pareil, jimmies, or colored sugar)
Don't these look so much cuter than regular sugar cookies? And there are so many colors (even pearlized!) and shapes of sprinkles available, the possibilities are endless...
You could make them themed for any holiday, or even use them as color-coordinated favors for showers or weddings! So much fun!