Our Easter Cookies are a quick and easy way to bake a batch of soft and chewy cookies covered in sprinkles in less than 30 minutes. This recipe is made from scratch and the dough is simply rolled and baked; no refrigeration required.
Easy Easter Cookies
These Easter Sprinkle Cookies are the easiest way to turn a classic-but-boring sugar cookie into the best colorful and festive sweet treat. When you need a hassle-free holiday dessert in a hurry, this recipe produces perfectly decorated, thick, and delicious 3-bite cookies, beautifully covered in baked-on sprinkles.
In a matter of minutes, a few basic ingredients mix together to form mini dough balls that bake into tasty Easter treats that brighten any colorless cookie tray. With a light crunch on the outside and soft in the center, Easter Sprinkle Cookies make celebrating springtime so much fun!
It’s easy to swap the colored sprinkles and customize your cookies for any time of year. For simple recipe revisions, check out my Christmas Sprinkle Cookies, Halloween Monster Sprinkle Cookies, and Rainbow Sprinkle Cookies.
Why We Love This Easter Cookies Recipe
- Quick and easy to make from scratch in under 30 minutes.
- Uses 8 basic ingredients that bake into the best sweet treat.
- No need to chill the dough and no rolling pin or cookie cutters needed–just make ‘em, bake ‘em, and take ‘em!
- A fun family activity and perfect for little helping hands to help in the kitchen.
- Turns a classic cookie into a delicious Easter dessert.
- Soft and chewy cookies with baked-on pretty pastel colors.
- Perfect for holiday parties, potlucks, or springtime snacks.
Ingredients
- Flour
- Easter Nonpareil Sprinkle Mix
- Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Egg
- Vanilla
- Baking Powder
- Sea Salt
SEE FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD BELOW
Substitutions and Additions
- Switch The Sprinkles: Feel free to decorate your cookies with jimmies (the long, thin sprinkles), nonpareils (tiny round sprinkles, or fine sugar sprinkles.
- Customize Your Cookie: It is so easy to change the color of your sprinkles in this recipe to suit whatever holiday you’re celebrating. Create custom cookies for any theme:
- Birthday party: Make white cookies with rainbow sprinkles.
- Christmas: Use red and green colors.
- Halloween or Thanksgiving: Use orange, brown, and yellow colors.
- 4th of July: Use a combination of red, white and blue colors.
- Tasty Toppings: Feel free to top your cookies with other Easter candy, like mini Cadbury eggs, Easter M&Ms, or malt ball eggs. Press the colorful candy into your warm cookies after baking.
- Dough Decoration: You can roll your dough balls in crushed cookie crumbs, candy pieces, or chopped nuts for extra decoration and crunch. With custom colors, you have a cookie ready for game day, baby showers, or any themed party.
Recommended Tools
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Hand Mixer
How to Make Easter Sprinkle Cookies
Turn a classic cookie into the tastiest springtime dessert when you make these easy Easter Sprinkle Cookies! Perfectly thick, soft and chewy, these simple homemade sweet treats can be made in under 30 minutes.
- Beat together the sugar and butter with a hand mixer, for 1 minute.
- Add the egg and vanilla, and then beat again for another 30 seconds.
- Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl.
- Pour half of the flour mixture into the wet batter and beat with a hand mixer until fully combined.
- Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat until it is thick.
- Use a rubber spatula to finish folding in any remaining flour.
- Place sprinkles on a small plate or in a bowl.
- Scoop out the cookie dough with a 1 1/2 -inch cookie scoop and roll into a ball.
Pro Tip: If you don’t have a cookie scoop, use a little over a tablespoon for each ball. - Roll each dough ball in the sprinkles until completely covered.
- Place the cookie balls on prepared baking sheet, leaving about an inch in between cookies for growing room.
- Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies look full grown.
Pro Tip: They should look like they’re almost finished when you pull them out of the oven. - Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before handling. Enjoy!
Tips
- It’s important that you do not immediately pick up the cookies when they’re fresh out of the oven. They need time to finish cooking through and firming up. You’ll have a slightly mushy and crumbly cookie otherwise.
- You can add sprinkles to the batter, if you like, but I found it unnecessary with how small the cookies are in connection with how many sprinkles are on the outside.
- You do not have to chill this dough. It’s already thick enough that no firming is necessary.
- These do not turn out to be large cookies. They’re smaller, 3-bite cookies the perfect size for parties and and little hands.
- You do not want your butter melted, it must be room temp. In other words, soft but still holding its form.
Storage Tips
- To Store: Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5-6 days.
- To Freeze: Place the cookies in a single layer in a freezer-safe resealable bag, then freeze for a few months. When you’re ready to eat your cookies, take them from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you do not plan on making all of the cookies at once, the unbaked cookie dough balls can be can be placed in a ziploc bag and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3-4 months, and then baked in desired quantities. When baking cookie dough balls straight from the freezer, add about 1 minute to the baking time.
There is no need to chill your cookie dough. The cookies come out perfectly soft and chewy when you follow the recipe as it is written. Chilling the dough is often recommended for sugar cookies, but this is a delicious exception to that rule!
I like to add sprinkles to these cookies before they go into the oven. Adding sprinkles to “wet” batter is the way they will adhere to the cookie without using an additional “glue” like frosting.
Other Easy Cookie Recipes
- No-Bake Avalanche Cookies
- Brownie Cookies
- Blueberry Cookies
- Haystack Cookies
- Oreo Stuffed Cookies
- Edible Birthday Cake Cookie Dough
Easter Sprinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cup flour
- 1 cup easter nonpareil sprinkle mix
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 2½ tsp real vanilla
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Combine the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl and beat using a hand mixer, for 1 minute.
- Once it’s fully combined, add the egg, and vanilla, then beat again for another 30 seconds.
- In a separate, medium, mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk together.
- Pour half of the flour mixture into the batter and use the hand mixer to beat it until fully combined.
- Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat using the hand mixture until it gets nice and thick. At this point, switch to using a rubber spatula to finish folding in any remaining flour.
- Place your sprinkles on a small plate or in a bowl.
- Use a 1 1/2 -inch cookie scoop or a little over a tablespoon to scoop out the cookie dough. Roll into a ball and roll in the sprinkles until it’s completely covered.
- Place the cookie balls on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, leaving about an inch in between cookies for growing room.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies look full grown. They should look like they’re almost finished when you pull them out.
- Leave them on the baking sheet to rest outside the oven for 10 minutes before handling. Enjoy!
Jenn’s Notes
- To Store: Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5-6 days.
- To Freeze: Place the cookies in a single layer in a freezer-safe resealable bag, then freeze for a few months. When you’re ready to eat your cookies, take them from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature.
- It’s important that you do not immediately pick up the cookies when they’re fresh out of the oven. They need time to finish cooking through and firming up. You’ll have a slightly mushy and crumbly cookie otherwise.
- You can add sprinkles to the batter, if you like, but I found it unnecessary with how small the cookies are in connection with how many sprinkles are on the outside.
- You do not have to chill this dough. It’s already thick enough that no firming is necessary.
- These do not turn out to be large cookies. They’re smaller, 3-bite cookies the perfect size for parties and and little hands.
- You do not want your butter melted, it must be room temp. In other words, soft but still holding its form.
