Funfetti Cookies — These funfetti cookies are essentially sugar cookies from scratch that have been loaded with sprinkles. They have that nostalgic boxed cake flavor but are 100% homemade!
Funfetti Cookies From Scratch
Who can say no to super soft cookies with sprinkles baked in? I sure can’t.
It’s been on my bucket list to come up with a softbatch-style sugar cookie recipe that’s soft, and not at all cakey, with just hints of chewiness around the edges. And I wanted to make these from scratch, not from Funfetti cake mix. I have nothing against it, and once upon a time used cake mix a whole lot more, but these sugar cookies with sprinkles are 100% from scratch.
I wanted cookies with less cakiness than Lofthouse Cookies, and I wanted drop rather than roll out cookies recipes. I didn’t want to have to frost them, so baking in sprinkles was my solution. I definitely didn’t want hard or crispy cookies, which are words that should never describe cookies.
I know people love sugar cookies and decorated Christmas cookies, but I think they’re tasteless and way too hard. I would never waste my calorie budget on cardboard cookies with frosting that’s crunchy. No way.
I made these Chewy Sugar Sprinkles Cookies previously and while I like them I felt like I could improve on them, so I did just that. For these funfetti cookies, I worked cornstarch into the dough. It’s my secret weapon for creating softbatch-style cookies. I’ve written about it before so many times and swear by it.
I also included both almond and vanilla extracts in the cookies to really play up the Funfetti cake batter taste.
And you can’t have Funfetti without sprinkles, and the abundance of them adds texture and flavor. Everything is better with sprinkles. The more the merrier.
These birthday cake cookies make a smaller batch, just 15 cookies, perfect when you don’t want or need dozens of cookies laying around tempting you. Feel free to double it if you’d like.
The cookies are pillowy soft and tender with just a tiny bit of chewiness around the edges. They’re lightweight without being airy or dry. They’re moist with a rich buttery flavor. If you’re a ‘dough’ person, rather than an add-ins person, and can appreciate the simple pleasures of a really good, flavorful dough, this dough will be your new best friend.
I have no willpower around super soft and tender sugar cookies from scratch like these. Especially when sprinkles are involved.
What’s in Funfetti Cookies?
For these homemade funfetti cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Sprinkles
Note that I used clear imitation vanilla extract rather than real vanilla extract. This is a recipe where using the cheap stuff is preferred to the real thing because imitation provides a classic, bakery-cake, nostalgic flavor. It’s found in the baking aisle next to real vanilla and it’s a fraction of the cost.
How to Make Funfetti Cookies From Scratch
To make these birthday cake cookies, you first need to cream together the butter, sugar, egg, and extracts for about 5 minutes. Do NOT shortcut the creaming process — you need to make sure the butter mixture is very light in color and fluffy before adding the other ingredients.
Add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined, making sure to not break apart the sprinkles. Then, scoop the cookie dough onto a plate and roll into balls before flattening them slightly with your hands. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours before baking the cookies.
Once the dough has chilled, bake for 8 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. These cookies should not turn golden or brown at all and should stay white.
How to Store Funfetti Cookies
You should store these homemade cookies in an airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. If you freeze the cookies, you can reheat them in the oven or set them on the counter to thaw.
Can I Make These Cookies in Advance?
Absolutely! I make the dough, scoop into balls, cover and refrigerate them for up to 5 days, before baking. You can also freeze the cookie dough (after you’ve scooped it) and bake these sugar cookies with sprinkles directly from frozen.
Can I Omit the Almond Extract?
If you have a nut allergy or are simply out of extract, I’d add extra vanilla extract to make up for the lack of almond extract. Your funfetti cookies won’t taste exactly like mine without the almond extract, but they’ll still be delicious!
My Cookies Came Out Flat, What Happened?
Sometimes these things happen! But this funfetti cookie recipe always turns out perfectly for me. If you need help troubleshooting this cookie recipe, check out this chocolate chip cookie recipe for all of my best tips and tricks to making cookies from scratch (scroll to the bottom of the post for the list of tips).
Can I Double This Recipe?
Most definitely! These sugar cookies with sprinkles can be doubled or even tripled to feed a crowd.
Can I Make These Into Cookie Bars?
I haven’t tried that myself, so I can’t say for sure how they’d turn out. However, I have lots of cookie bar recipes on my blog already! If you’re looking for inspiration, try out my Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars, M&M’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, or Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Does it Matter What Type of Sprinkles I Use?
Nope! But I’d steer clear of the sprinkle balls if I were you, just because they’re fairly hard.
Can I Roll Out These Cookies and Cut Them Into Shapes?
I haven’t tried that myself, so I’m not sure that’d work. If you roll out these cookies, I’m afraid they wouldn’t turn out soft and chewy at all.
Can I Make These with Whole Wheat Flour?
I haven’t tried that myself, but my gut says no. Whole wheat flour would majorly alter the texture and flavor of these funfetti cookies.
Can I Make These Gluten-Free?
I’ve never made these with a GF flour, but if you find one that works please leave me a comment below!
Tips for Making Funfetti Cookies
You absolutely must chill this dough before baking, no exceptions. The cookies will spread and bake flat and thin if you don’t chill the dough.
And don’t over bake! The cookies will look quite raw and underdone at 8 minutes, but they firm up while they cool. Don’t be tempted to bake them longer because they’re not meant to be browned, golden, or crisp. They’re meant to be white and soft.
Also note that the cornstarch in these birthday cake cookies can’t be substituted. It’s the secret ingredient and they wouldn’t turn out properly without it.
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Softbatch Funfetti Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract, real vanilla extract may be substituted
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- ¾ cup sprinkles, jimmies
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, egg, extract, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use a hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes). Do not shortcut the creaming process; make sure dough is very light in color and fluff, stop to scrape down the sides of the mixer as necessary.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the sprinkles and beat momentarily to incorporate, less than 1 minute, or fold in by hand.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two tablespoon mounds (I made 15). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line two baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Bake for 8 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. These cookies should not turn golden or brown at all and should stay white. Do not bake longer than 9 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool (The cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temp for 15 minutes, and were baked for 8 minutes, with trays rotated at the 4-minute mark). Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
- Store cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cookies From Scratch:
The Best Soft & Chewy M&M’s Cookies — These bakery-style M&M’s cookies are soft, chewy, buttery, and LOADED with M&M’s and chocolate chips. No one can resist these cookies!
Softbatch Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies — These soft batch cookies are made with a combination of butter and cream cheese, which makes them extra rich and delicious!
Frosted Soft Sugar Cookies – Super SOFT sugar cookies that just melt in your mouth!! If you’ve ever thought that sugar cookies can be boring or dry, this EASY recipe with frosting and sprinkles will change your mind!
Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — These cookies are soft, moist, and oh-so chewy. They taste like banana bread and chocolate chip cookies rolled into one dessert!
The Best Snickerdoodles – Soft, pillowy puffs that are so irresistible! The closest recipe to Mrs. Fields snickerdoodles that you’ll find!
One-Bowl, No-Mixer, No-Chill, Extra-Large Chocolate Chip Cookie For One – An incredibly FAST and EASY recipe that produces ONE extra-large soft and chewy cookie that’s loaded with chocolate!
Funfetti Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies — The cookies are loaded with Oreos, sprinkles, chocolate chips, and are adapted from my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
They are some pretty cookies. I am pinning this. My friends daughter would love to have these on her birthday. You always come up with the best cookie recipes. Thank YOU.
Soft cookies with sprinkles? YES! Sprinkles always make everything better. And I’m sure it’ll cure a case of the Mondays!
Sure will cure a case of the Mondays :)
Sprinkle city! These would be a great kids project :)
I’ll let you be on sprinkle cleanup duty after the 6 year olds have time with the sprinkle shaker. I think you little girl and mine are the same age so you can probably relate :)
These cookies are so, so fun. I love the sprinkles, just like a party!
Here’s to homemade funfetti cookies! I don’t like to use cake mixes at all, so I really appreciate this one. They’re so lively and delicious looking! Well done.
Glad you like these Marcie – thanks!
Hi Averie,
These cookies looks beyond incredible! The presentation are lovely too. Thanks for sharing…
Have a beautiful day!
♥
These look so fantastic! I love that you used both vanilla and almond extract in these. We are headed to my younger sister’s house for a barbecue before my mom heads back home next weekend and she has 4 little kids (plus by big 2) – they will LOVE these. I am definitely making a couple dozen. I will be favorite auntie for the night! ;-)
Oh you will be the fave auntie for sure! Please LMK how they turn out! :)
Averie – These look beautiful and festive! Is the baking soda there for flavor only? It can’t leaven without an acid, right? They look plenty puffy pillowy regardless – so there’s obviously no issue… I’m just curious. I love comparing your adaptations b/c it teaches me what effects little changes make. I noticed your last sprinkles cookies used baking powder b/c there was no acid in the recipe (well, not counting the 1T of brown sugar), but your sugar doodles used baking soda & had brown sugar which adds some acid? These are white sugar only without any other acid like chocolate or anything so I was just wondering? Love coming here for inspiration!
I didn’t want to use baking powder in this recipe because I feel like it tends to give foods a very cakey and dry texture. Great in cakes, not cookies. So stuck with baking soda. It did the trick in terms of both flavor and leavening and I got the results I wanted. Everything you wrote is technically true, however, I do believe that it does react on some level with both the butter and egg, and I wouldn’t think of not adding it – I think the cookies would be spread like crazy without it. Plus it does give some flavor. Glad to hear you like to compare recipes – me too!
Thanks Averie – appreciate the info! You get great results, so maybe following your instinct rather than “science” is a good thing! I don’t like flat cookies either, which is why I am here :)
Baking is a funny thing – there is science that you have to follow, but then there’s also your gut and you have to trust that, too. Do you have the Cooks Illustrated book I referenced in this post? https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/07/12-favorite-cookbooks-and-taste-of-home-cookbook-giveaway.html
Get it if you dont. Best $20 bucks ever spent.
But they test recipes over and over and over…and they are science geeks and I mean that lovingly, and sometimes they get their best results when they’re about to just scrap a recipe, then dump everything into a bowl all at once and stir. Rather than doing it in some super special order. Even they surprise themselves – and they write about it. So yeah…sometimes you just have to throw your gut into the equation, too!
Ok, you’ve convinced me – I HAVE to try cornstarch in my cookies. These look too good to be true! :)
Yes, you HAVE to try it! It’s a little miracle!
I loved your last soft batch cookies, so….running to the store for sprinkles now.
I’m on this.
They are, without a doubt, my fave ever sugar cookies. After years of trying to get what I want, these are it! They are the white sugar cookie equivalent of those dark brown sugar softbatch cookies of mine you love and the sugar-doodles, too. As a dough appreciating person, you will love these, Katie! Not sure how you’re going to swap out for the flour/GF and how your sugar blends will work, but LMK!
I love everything that has sprinkles in it and these are no exception! Thanks for sharing!
I’m obsessed with anything Funfetti/Confetti so these cookies have the key to my heart!
These look so freakin’ good! I am definitely baking these next month right before the kids head back to school. What an awesome surprise treat they will be when they open up their lunchbox on the first day and find these fun, colorful yummy cookies! I don’t usually include cookies in their lunchbox but I think the first week back to school deserves it! :)
This would be such a welcome lunch box treat I would think for most anyone :)
oh yes! Pretty please!
Sprinkles just make me happy! These cookies look great.
The colors! Oh, I cannot get enough sprinkles:) And those cookies look supremely soft. Gorgeous cookies! I would have no self control around these!