Yay! These are soft, chewy, sprinkle loaded drop sugar cookies made from only 8 ingredients. No rolling pin or cookie cutters required! To prevent over-spreading, make sure you chill the cookie dough balls for at least 2 hours before baking.
We all know and love sugar cookies. Rolling pin, cookie cutters, decorating galore. It’s all so much fun, especially around the holidays.
Drop Sugar Cookies
But what about sugar cookies of the *other* variety? Roll the cookie dough into balls and bake them drop-style. No fancy equipment or knowledge of how to decorate sugar cookies required, unless you consider the mountain of sprinkles on top. (Is it even a sugar cookie if there’s no sprinkles?)
Today let’s ditch the rolling pin, toss the cookie cutters, and break out our mixers because it’s time to for drop style sprinkle sugar cookies. These buttery cookies are soft-baked, simple, and mega chewy. I can’t wait for you to try them!!
Video Tutorial
Cookie Chemistry
These drop style sugar cookies are based off of a familiar recipe: Soft-Baked Sprinkle Sugar Cookies. They’ve always been a favorite, but I often receive questions about the leaveners used. When testing cookie recipes, one problem I always face is finding the right amount of leavener. That recipe calls for baking soda and cream of tartar.
If you’re interested, it’s helpful to read my baking soda vs baking powder article. As you’ll learn, recipes calling for baking soda must also contain an acid such as sour cream, brown sugar, cream of tartar, or buttermilk. The acid reacts with the baking soda to create carbon dioxide, which allows the cookies to rise. In that recipe, I use cream of tartar because it’s mostly flavorless and doesn’t change the texture of the sugar cookies.
I reworked the recipe. Now I use baking powder instead of the baking soda/cream of tartar combination. (Baking powder already contains an acid so it doesn’t require any special ingredients.) Using too much baking powder leaves a bitter aftertaste, which was my problem a few years ago. Good rule of thumb I’ve learned since then: use around 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 1 cup of flour. Today you’ll use 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.
Science is definitely delicious.
How to Make Drop Sugar Cookies
You only need 8 ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, butter, egg, sugar, and sprinkles. That’s it! For extra flavor, feel free to add a splash of almond extract.
Preparing the cookie dough is easy. Whisk dry ingredients in one bowl and beat wet ingredients in another. Combine everything together. Sugar cookies get all of their flavor from butter and vanilla extract, so make sure you’re following the recipe closely. Proper room temperature butter is imperative.
Chilling the cookie dough is another non-negotiable. These drop sugar cookies are very buttery and the colder the cookie dough, the less they’ll over-spread. The cookie dough can get a little hard after 2 hours in the refrigerator, so I recommend rolling the dough into balls before chilling. Here are more tips on how to prevent cookies from spreading.
*Extras*
- Easily Double the Recipe: This recipe yields about 15 medium cookies. You can double the recipe if you need a larger batch for a birthday party, bake sale, or other event.
- Extra Sprinkles: We’re definitely testing the limits on “how many sprinkles is too many sprinkles?” here. You can skip the sprinkles or load them up like I do. I also like to dip the tops of the cookie dough balls into sprinkles before chilling/baking.
These drop sugar cookies will be a new staple in your cookie rotation, right next to your chocolate chip cookies! Customize them with different sprinkle colors for any holiday or occasion.
Drop Style Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 15 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You can make these soft, chewy, sprinkle loaded drop style sugar cookies with only 8 ingredients! No rolling pin or cookie cutters required. Make sure you chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours before baking.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (80g) sprinkles, plus more for topping*
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Beat in 1/2 cup of sprinkles. Dough will be thick and sticky. Scoop large sections of dough (about 2 Tablespoons/40g of dough each) and roll into balls. For extra sprinkle goodness, lightly dip the tops of the cookie dough balls in more sprinkles. Place dough balls onto a large plate or lined baking sheet.
- Cover and chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and up to 4 days).
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Arrange chilled cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough, roll into balls, and chill the dough balls in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. (See note about cookie dough chilling.) Cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Sprinkles: Any sprinkles are great, but I recommend avoiding nonpareils (the little balls) as they tend to bleed their color in cookie dough and cake batter. I used these naturally colored sprinkles in the pictured cookies. If desired, you can leave out the sprinkles for plain drop sugar cookies.
- Dough Chilling: Chilling the cookie dough is imperative. These cookies are very buttery and the colder the cookie dough, the less your sugar cookies will over-spread. The cookie dough can get a little hard after 2 hours in the refrigerator, so I recommend rolling the dough into balls before chilling. Here are all of my tips to prevent cookies from over-spreading.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I haven’t baked these yet, but the dough is already a big hit. Do you think it would be ok to chill the whole batch of dough and then to use a cookie scoop to make the balls? It is hard to get a cookie sheet into my refrigerator to chill the balls. Thank you!
Hi Deborah, the dough will be very stiff and hard to scoop after chilling, but you can certainly give it a try! You can also chill the balls on smaller plates, then transfer them to the baking sheets when you’re ready to bake. Enjoy!
Love your recipes:) could Almond extract be added to this ? If so how much? Thank you
We would add 1/2 tsp almond extract. Enjoy!
These cookies are divine! I used this dough to make “Elmo” cookies for my 3 year old. Instead of adding the rainbow sprinkles I just rolled the balls into red fine sugar. When they came out of the oven and were still hot, I put eyeball sprinkles and an orange peanut m and m for the nose. He loved them! I am making them again right now for as per recipe. Thank you!
Hi! I Have a quick question, instead of sprinkles would I be able to add chocolate chips instead ? Thank you so much !
Hi Wendy, absolutely! Same amount.
I doubled the recipe expecting 40 cookies for a bake sale weighing the balls for 40g each and only yielded 28 cookies! Just beware if you need a certain count. The cookies are lovely and I’m sure will sell quickly!
Thank you for letting us know, Heather! We have re-tested and updated this recipe to accurately reflect the cookie yield.
I only made 12 but they look and smell amazing! I used a small scoop and then put another scoop on top, refrigerated 2 1/2 hours and they baked up beautifully.
Amazing recipe! One math nerd correction. It says 20 servings, but the total weight of the ingredients is right around 590g. If you make 40g cookies as instructed, it’s not quite enough for 15 cookies.
Thank you, Kelly! We have re-tested and updated this recipe to accurately reflect the cookie yield.
I’m so glad I doubled this recipe right off the bat. Sally, I very much appreciated your attention to detail and the inclusion of weight measurements! These cuties are perfect pillows of perfection! I did add 1/4 tsp of almond extract, a personal preference; they would have been scrumptious regardless.
Can’t wait to try, but do I need any adjustments for high altitude?
Hi Mo, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
first time ever I followed a recipe exactly. You were so precise I decided Okay! They are beautiful to behold and very tasty. I did roll into balls and dipped before chilling and they are great. Just what my great-granddaughters requested. Now to the freezer for two weeks
Delicious! Soooo soft. My family loved them!
I love these so much! I do want to note that the spread (and texture) differ a ton depending on the size of the cookie balls. At 1 tbsp balls they spread a lot and come out quite thin and crispy-chewy (even following all your tips for avoiding cookie spread!), but at 3 tbsp, they are THICK and so good. They taste just like they are from a bakery! I like to add a little bit of almond extract (about 1/4-1/2 tsp) as well when I make them
Mine usually tend to spread, same with the double chocolate cookies, why is that?
Here’s our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading! The most important is starting with proper room temperature butter.
These sugar cookies turn out perfectly every time. My whole family loves them.
My friend made these for me. Is it possible to bake these in a gas oven and for how long?.
I was able to successfully make this recipe gluten free with King Arthur Measure for Measure flour! The only adjustment I made was to bake at 375°, but that is due to me living at 4,800 ft.
In the recipe, you tell us that you re-worked your Soft-Baked Sprinkle Sugar Cookies recipe. It looks like you simply removed the baking soda and cream of tartar. How does this change the cookie? Are these simply flatter? How do they compare in texture? (I realize I could simply bake both and find out, but I thought, perhaps, I could lean on your experience.) Thank you!
Hi Becky, both recipes yield chewy and extra soft cookies. We wanted this recipe to be an option for anyone who can’t easily get their hands on cream of tartar. Results are very, very close to the same. You can’t go wrong with either!
This is a very good recipe! However I could not see how 40g each would make 20 cookies. I used 25g and got exactly 20 cookies. I measured each cookie by a scale.
Hi Deborah, thank you for letting us know! We have re-tested and updated this recipe to accurately reflect the cookie yield.
Do you think the dough could be shaped into a log before refrigerating and cut the cookies instead of making balls?
Hi Danielle, we don’t recommend it. Here’s our sprinkle slice and bake cookies instead!
These tasted great, but the cookies didn’t spread that much. I refrigerated overnight before shaping into balls and then let the dough warm up and then shaped and baked. I wanted a flat cookie so I thought it being warmer would help- not sure what happened. How do I get flatter cookies?
Hi Maggie! Thick cookies can be caused by too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Thanks so much for answering my 1st question I have another – what’s the right size? 2 tbs is about 45g but makes half the amount of cookies in the recipe. These are always a big hit so I want to get them right 🙂
Sally – thank you! So just a tiny bit big – it’s why I always do a trial batch lol. I’ll add 2 min or so and just have giant cookies with sprinkles – nothing to hate about that lol
This was a huge hit in our house with the kids and adults alike. I made a double batch for my daughter to bring to school for her birthday celebration and she was so excited to have cookies with “sparkles” in them
Should I roll in sprinkles before or after freezing the dough in balls?
Hi Hayley, you can roll the dough balls in sprinkles before freezing.
These cookies are spectacular. Perfect texture & chewiness. My family gave rave reviews. Next time will double recipe. Thank you Sally for yet another fool proof recipe.
These sugar cookies were a hit in my kitchen for both their flavor and the wonderful aroma they fill the house with! Scrumptious!
Could I substitute peppermint extract in these? And put candy cane bits instead of sprinkles?
Hi Alison, you could try swapping half of the vanilla for peppermint extract and using candy canes instead of the sprinkles. Or, you might enjoy these white chocolate peppermint cookies instead.
Delicious and so easy!! Everyone loved them.
What do you consider a splash of almond extract in this recipe
We would add 1/2 tsp almond extract. Enjoy!
My new favorite sugar cookie—the sprinkles add a delightful li’l crunch! Will be doubling this recipe to freeze and bake later for holidays!!