Confetti Cookies are a buttery cookie filled with fun colorful sprinkles and then iced with a butter frosting and more sprinkles. These treats are guaranteed to make you smile.

The girls love sprinkles so we just had to find a perfect buttery cookie with sprinkles to make when they were home one weekend. I found some recipes on Sally’s Baking Addiction and Sugar Spun Run, two blogs that I follow, that use both cornstarch and cream of tartar. The combination produces a cookie that is strong enough to hold the frosting and sprinkles but without being to hard. Confetti cookies are now one of their favorites.
It was the first treat that Natalie made in her new apartment and Taylor makes them all the time, just recently with Halloween decorations.
Cream of tartar is added because when combined with baking soda, it gives the cookie their rise. It also contributes to a soft chewy cookie. The cornstarch gives cookies a softer texture. So what you have is a cookie that is crunchy on the edges and chewy throughout.
The cookie part is buttery and scrumptious all by itself, but add some sprinkles and this butter cookie is transformed into something magical. But don’t stop with sprinkles inside the cookies, add a butter icing so that you can add more sprinkles to the top. We don’t call this website Butter & Baggage for nothing!
Why you’ll love sugar cookies with sprinkles
- They’re pretty and festive and never disappoint.
- Confetti signifies a fun-fetti party – great for sharing at all kinds of gatherings!
- The frosting isn’t overpowering and each chewy bite is magical.
- So fun to decorate with sprinkles or sanding sugar for holidays or birthdays or pipe on some Holiday decorations.
- You can use a hand mixer to make the dough, but a stand mixer is easier.
What you’ll need
- Sprinkles – you need jimmies to add to the cookie dough. You can use either jimmies, nonpareils or sanding sugar to put on top after frosted.
- Cream of tartar and baking soda – when combined they give the cookie their rise.
- Cornstarch – for a chewy texture.
- Butter – you can’t have a butter cookie without it.
- Pantry staples – eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla.
- For the frosting you need butter, powdered sugar, cream and vanilla.
How do you make buttery confetti cookies
Step 1
Cream butter and sugar and add eggs and vanilla.
Step 2
Add dry ingredients and mix.
Step 3
Gently mix in sprinkles.
Step 4
Refrigerate the entire ball of dough.
Step 5
Bake. Once cooled, frost with a butter icing and top with more sprinkles.
Pro tip: Double the batch, sprinkle cookies will go fast. You can easily freeze a batch to pull out later to share.
The result is a fabulous sugar cookie with sprinkles that I can not keep in the house. I had to put a note on the container to keep everyone away until I could get photographs. Once photographed, the girls kept asking if there were any left or if I had given them all away. I did manage to share with a couple of friends who also loved them.
An added bonus was that I got to use several partially used containers of sprinkles that had been laying around from past baking experiments. I have a reception coming up soon and I think I’ll make another batch of these to take along.
We made some for the 4th of July with red, white and blue sanding sugar but I think we liked the ones with rainbow jimmies the best.
You have three choices for sprinkles:
1. jimmies – they are a long soft sprinkle that comes in rainbow colors or individual colors. These are my favorite and are what you need to put in the dough.
2. Nonpareils – these are the tiny round balls. They look festive but I prefer the jimmies if you are adding them to the batter. Nonpareils are better for decorating.
3. Sanding sugar – These come in multiple colors and are sugar crystals, use these to decorate.
This is a delicious buttery cookie without the frosting. To get more sprinkles if not adding frosting, roll the cookie dough balls in sprinkles before refrigerating.
Since this is a butter cookie, you will need to refrigerate it or you will have very flat cookies.
For this recipe it’s easiest if you make the dough into balls and then freeze the balls in an airtight container.
The frosting will be soft when added to the cookie, so add the sprinkles while the frosting is soft and they will stick to it.
More fun treats you’ll love
Confetti Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temp
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sprinkles
FROSTING
- ¾ cup butter room temp
- 2 ¼ cups confectioner’s sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until combined. Scrape bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch and salt. Slowly add to the butter mixture on low speed and mix until combined. Gently mix in the sprinkles, just enough to disburse but not so much that they bleed into the dough.
- Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes so that it is soft enough to form into balls but not as soft as it was when you made the dough. Use a small ice cream scoop to form into balls
- Preheat oven to 325º. Place the balls on a parchment covered baking sheets.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes until the edges are slightly browned, the centers will appear soft. Allow to cool on pan for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Frosting: With a hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla and salt and mix on low speed until combined then increase speed and mix until smooth and creamy. Add more sugar or cream if too thick or thin.
- Once cookies are cooled, frost and decorate with sprinkles.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- You need to refrigerate the dough before baking.
- If you want more sprinkles on the top instead of frosting, roll the balls in sprinkles before you refrigerate them.
- For the frosting you can use milk instead of cream if needed.
- Don’t over bake the cookies, the center should be soft.
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