Holiday Sprinkle Cookies

Cookies are the reason for the season this year. There are a lot of things we can’t enjoy, but we can eat our weight in cookies with no regrets. Calories don’t count in 2020, in case you hadn’t gotten the memo. Stretch pants are in, and the days of business skirts and heels are out. If my work expects me to be rocking anything fitted when we return to an office, I expect at least a six month advance notice – and some flexibility in the dress code. If we have learned anything from this pandemic, it’s that all you need is to look good from the waist up. Let’s not try to add extra pressure when we go back to the new normal by requiring fancy pants. Who’s with me? In the meantime, let’s get back to the important matter at hand: these Holiday Sprinkle Cookies. I love nonpareils and any sprinkle cookie can always brighten up a holiday dessert tray. These are a very simple version with standard pantry ingredients to make your holiday baking sweet and stress free. 

Since I don’t have cute kids, a dog or a fiance, my options for photo holiday cards are a bit limited. But this year I decided to take my Chocolate Peppermint Sprinkle Cookie recipe and make it the photo front of my card that wished everyone Peace, Love & Cookies, and included the recipe from my blog on the back. So far it’s been a big hit, and I’ve getting lots of texts and instagram tags of people baking the recipe. So maybe being 35 and single isn’t a colossal failure because at least I make bomb ass cookies that people really love? 

Anyways. The point of the story is that sprinkle cookies are delicious. And I wanted to make a new version for this year’s holiday cookies. So that I can use it for next year’s card … which due to Covid dating will likely need to feature cookies once again. (this is really uplifting isn’t it?)

Sometimes the holiday nonpareils are hard to find, so you can always use the regular ones, though I am usually lucky in finding what I need at Target. I remade the chocolate peppermint ones yesterday with rainbow nonpareils and they are just delicious. Remember, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. If you’re looking for a unique twist on these cookies that is also a very delicious sprinkle cookie, try my Goat Cheese Sprinkle Cookie Recipe. I don’t always have goat cheese in the fridge, but when I do I love love love to bake those cookies. I also have this Chocolate Sprinkle Cookie recipe that doesn’t include peppermint, and reminded me that ALL of these versions are delicious with a scoop of ice cream in between.

So if you’re up for some last minute holiday baking and looking for a simple recipe to brighten up your cookie trays, bake up a batch of these Holiday Sprinkle Cookies.

Holiday Sprinkle Cookies
Yield: 35-40 Cookies

Holiday Sprinkle Cookies

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 13 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 28 minutes

The perfect decorative holiday cookie for your dessert trays, these are crunchy on the sprinkle outside and soft and chewy on the sugar cookie inside.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 1/2 cups nonpareil sprinkles

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Scrape down the side of the bowl before adding the next ingredients.
  2. Slowly beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract.
  3. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and cream of tartar. On a low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients just until they are incorporated.
  4. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or sil-pat liners. Pour the nonpareils in a shallow bowl.
  6. Use a medium cookie scoop to portion even size balls of dough. Roll the balls of dough between your palms to make them smooth, then slowly roll them in the nonpareils until they are fully coated.
  7. Place the balls of dough at least 2 inches apart, as these will spread a bit. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-13 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Enjoy!