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Colorful Christmas Sprinkle Cookies are delicious sugar cookies with red, green, and white sprinkles mixed in that bake up to a tender sweet texture.
Easy and Festive Christmas Cookies
Today we’re sharing one of our go-to cookie recipes that we bake for just about any occasion.
Our Christmas Sprinkle Cookies are sweet sugar cookies – made just a little extra special by adding colorful sprinkles (aka “jimmies”) to the cookie dough. They bake up soft and very tender with bits of sweetness throughout.
This is a great recipe when you need to bake a larger quantity of cookies – for cookie swaps, bake sales, or giving as gifts. They are sturdy and pack well for shipping too.
While we made them with red, green, and white sprinkles for Christmas, you can use any color sprinkles or jimmies you have on hand.
Why you’ll love Christmas Sprinkle Cookies
- These cookies are as pretty as they are delicious – and so festive!
- With this big-batch recipe, you can bake a lot of cookies for all of your holiday parties and gift-giving.
- This is another cookie recipe that everyone loves – kids and grownups alike!
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Cream of Tartar
- Pinch of Salt
- Unsalted Butter
- Oil –Vegetable or canola oil
- Granulated Sugar
- Confectioners’ Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Butter Extract – This adds a subtle buttery undertone to the cookies. If you don’t have any on hand, swap in the same amount of vanilla or almond extract.
- Holiday Colored Sprinkles
Special Tools Needed
- Various Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Baking Sheets (*See Tips & Tricks below) – We like to use insulated cookie sheets for this recipe.
- Parchment Paper Sheets
- Medium Bowl
- Whisk
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment or Hand Mixer and Large Mixing Bowl
- Scoop – We used a #50 scoop which holds about 1 ½ tablespoons.
- Cooling Racks
How do I make Christmas Sprinkle Cookies?
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Beat butter in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add oil and both sugars and mix well.
- Add eggs and both extracts to the mixing bowl.
- Mix in half of the dry ingredients on low speed until just combined.
- Add in the rest of the dry ingredients along with the sprinkles and mix again. (Avoid over-mixing.)).
- Chill the cookie dough for at least an hour or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and position rack in the upper third of the oven.
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop out the cookie dough and place on parchment paper.
- Bake – turning halfway through – until the edges of the cookies are very lightly browned.
- Cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then remove to cooling racks.
- Before baking the next batch, make sure that the oven has fully recovered to 375 degrees F.
Tips & Tricks
- We highly recommend using insulated baking sheets for these cookies. Since the cookie dough is somewhat dense, the insulation will allow the cookies to bake through without over-browning (or burning) the bottoms of the cookies.
- If you don’t have insulated baking sheets, another option is to double up on the baking sheets – place one on top of the other. This double pan process helps the bottom of the cookies bake with more indirect heat, and will also prevent scorching.
- The other trick to prevent over-browning the bottom of the cookies is to position your oven rack in the upper third of the oven. This allows the cookies to bake further from bottom of the oven where there is the most direct heat.
- Before baking each batch of cookies, make sure the oven temperature recovers to 375 degrees F. This is a dense cookie dough so you want to bake it at the full oven temperature to avoid spreading and to ensure even baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Christmas Sprinkle Cookies ahead of time? Yes – in fact, the cookie dough should be chilled for at least one hour and ideally overnight.
- How do I store these cookies? Once the cookies fully cool, store then in an air-tight container at room temperature for several days.
- Can I freeze these cookies?Yes, these cookies freeze nicely. Lay them flat on a sheet tray and freeze until solid. Then wrap them tightly in plastic to avoid freezer burn and store in the freezer for up to two months.
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Christmas Sprinkle Cookies
Colorful Christmas Sprinkle Cookies are a festive, large-batch cookie recipe – great for holiday cookie swaps and gift-giving.
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks,) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter extract
1 cup holiday-colored sprinkles
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter on high speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add oil and both sugars and beat to mix well. Scrape sides of the bowl, then add eggs, vanilla extract and butter extract. Beat again until well combined.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, then mix on low speed just until combined. Add the other half of the flour mixture plus the colored sprinkles, and on low speed, mix again just until combined. Avoid over-mixing.
- Cover and chill the cookie dough for at least an hour, or overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Position the oven rack in the upper third of the oven.
- If baking with thin cookie sheets, double up the pans to avoid scorching the bottom of the cookies. Line the top pan with parchment. If baking with heavy or insulated cookie sheets, no need to double up. Use a one-ounce cookie scoop (this one is approximately 1.5 tablespoons) and place 12 scoops of cookie dough on the baking sheet, lined up 3X4.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes (depending on the pan you are using and your oven)- turning halfway through the baking time – until the edges of the cookies are very lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. They will be very soft when they first come out so let them set up on the parchment before attempting to move them to a cooling rack.
- Let the oven recover back to 375 degrees F. before starting the next pan. We kept two pans ahead and kept them refrigerated between batches. Also keep the bulk cookie dough refrigerated as you work.
- Repeat this process until you have baked all 54 cookies (five trays).
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