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These thick, soft, bakery-style funfetti cookies are packed with rainbow sprinkles and flavored with a touch of almond extract. Made completely from scratch with simple pantry ingredients and a few game-changing bakery tricks, these cookies come out perfectly thick and golden at the edges and soft in the center. This is the only funfetti cookie recipe you will ever need.
Everything is way more fun with sprinkles! I have been getting requests all over the place to create a funfetti cookie with sprinkles. They have been so popular all over Instagram these days since a bakery in New York City are selling them like crazy.
I am never one to shirk from a challenge…especially when it involves cookies. I was ready to create the ultimate funfetti cookie with sprinkles.
These bakery-style funfetti cookies are thick, golden at the edges with a soft, tender center that practically melts when you bite into it โ and absolutely packed with rainbow sprinkles. These aren’t the thin, crispy, forgettable sprinkle cookies you sometimes find at grocery store bakeries. These are the real thing. Bakery-style, properly thick, loaded with more sprinkles than you think is reasonable, and flavored with a combination of vanilla and almond extract that gives them a depth of flavor.
My daughter Sadie LOVES sugar. What I mean by loving sugar is that I find her eating it by the spoonful with the world’s largest spoon. As a 3-year-old, she’s the one that would sneak bags of marshmallows, Capri Suns, and even cherry Italian syrup from the pantry in the middle of the night. I wondered where all of my bags of marshmallows were disappearing to only to find them stuffed under her bed! It’s no wonder she is the only kid that has left us with a hefty bill at the dentist’s office.
So you can imagine how excited she was to find out I was making cookies with SPRINKLES! This is her dream cookie and you better believe, she was lined up to be the first taste tester. These cookies passed with flying colors and now she has requested them at every birthday party.
Funfetti Cookie Ingredients:
- Butter — to keep these cookies perfectly thick, I like to use cold butter cut into small cubes to help the dough stay cool
- Brown Sugar + Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract + Almond Extract — the mix of vanilla extract and a touch of almond extract is the perfect combo
- All-Purpose Flour + Cake Flour — why use cake flour? It just creates a more tender texture and melts in your mouth.=
- Cornstarch — helps to keep the cookies soft and thick
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Rainbow Sprinkles — use your favorite sprinkles but make sure they are fresh. Sprinkles can go bad quickly and have an off taste. Check for freshness.
The cornstarch is not optional. A teaspoon of cornstarch in cookie dough is one of the most effective baking tricks you’ll ever use. Cornstarch interferes with gluten development and keeps cookies soft and tender for days longer than they’d otherwise stay. It also contributes to that thick, slightly cakey texture that sets bakery cookies apart from homemade ones. Don’t skip it.
If you’ve ever bitten into a cookie or a cake from a high-end bakery and thought โ there’s something in here I can’t quite identify, something that makes this taste like it was made by someone who really knows what they’re doing โ there’s a very good chance that something was almond extract. It’s one of the most underused and underappreciated ingredients in home baking, and in funfetti cookies specifically, it is nothing short of transformative.
Almond extract has a warm, slightly sweet, floral quality that is entirely different from vanilla. Where vanilla adds soft background sweetness, almond extract adds a layer of complexity โ a flavor that registers as “special” and “bakery-quality” without anyone necessarily being able to put their finger on why. The key is using the right amount. Too little and it disappears entirely. Too much and it tips into an artificial, almost medicinal flavor that overwhelms everything else.
Which sprinkles should I use?
Not all sprinkles are created equal, and the type you choose will have a surprisingly significant impact on both the appearance and the texture of your finished cookies. There are three main types of sprinkles you’ll encounter at the grocery store, and understanding the difference between them will save you from a disappointing batch.
Jimmies are the long, soft, rod-shaped sprinkles โ the kind most people picture when they think of funfetti. These are the gold standard for baking into cookie dough. They hold their shape well in the oven, they bleed just enough color into the surrounding dough to create that beautiful, marbled rainbow effect inside the cookie, and they stay soft rather than turning crunchy or hard after baking. These are what you want.
Nonpareils are the tiny, round, hard sugar balls that look beautiful on the outside of a cookie but turn into a streaky, bleeding mess inside dough. The color leeches out aggressively during mixing and baking, turning your dough gray or brown rather than the cheerful swirl of color you’re going for. Avoid mixing these into the dough.
Confetti sprinkles (the flat, disc-shaped ones) sit somewhere in the middle โ they bleed slightly less than nonpareils and hold their shape reasonably well, but they don’t give the same classic funfetti look that jimmies do.
I suggest adding rainbow jimmies to the dough.
How to make Funfetti Cookies from Scratch:
- ย Start with Cold Butter. The butter needs to be cut into small pieces in order to cream with the sugar and brown sugar. Cream for 4-5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl often.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, creaming well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract and mix.
- Use Cake Flour + All-Purpose Flour. This is what gives the cookies that soft, tender, perfect texture. The cake flour contains less gluten than traditional flour so it makes a softer texture.
- Use Cornstarch + Baking Soda. By using two leavening agents, these cookies have the perfect rise to them.
- Bake at a High Heat. These sprinkles cookies are baked at 400 degrees. This is how the cookies remain so soft in the middle yet get those nice crisp edges.
- Let sit for 15 minutes. These confetti cookies need time to set-up so don’t touch for 15 minutes. Then you can go eat them to your heart’s content.
These are large made-from-scratch sugar cookies with rainbow sprinkles. I form them into balls about 6 ounces each since bigger is better. However, you can make them smaller. These funfetti cookies are baked at a high heat to make sure they are cooked on the outside but remain nice and soft and chewy on the inside.
These Rainbow Sprinkles Funfetti Cookies would be so cute served at a birthday party, graduation, or any time there is a celebration! These sprinkle cookies are always such a hit!
If you are looking for more cookie recipes, check out my SUGAR COOKIES, Levain Bakery Famous CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES, and my entire collection of MODERN HONEY COOKIES HERE.
Recipes with Sprinkles:
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Funfetti Cookies
Equipment
- kitchenaid mixer
- baking sheet
- parchment paper baking sheets
- measuring cups and spoons
- turner
- spatula set
- cookie scoop
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cold Butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar * (may increase to 3/4 cup)
- 2 Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Cake Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 3/4 – 1 cup Rainbow Sprinkles may add more
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl often.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
- Stir in flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until incorporated.
- Stir in rainbow sprinkles.
- Form into 6-ounce balls for large cookies or 4-ounce balls for medium cookies. Place on parchment paper or Silpat-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 – 12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Watch carefully.
- Remove from oven and let sit for at least 15 minutes to allow them to set up.
Notes
- If you want a sweeter cookie, increase the sugar to 3/4 cup of granulated sugar.
- You can use 3 cups of all-purpose flour instead of 2 cups of all-purpose + 1 cup of cake flour. You need 3 cups of flour TOTAL.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I hope you love these festive Funfetti Cookies with Sprinkles! Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
yes finally a recipe that isnt bad!!! These cookies actually turn out thick, soft, and chewy while maintaining a thin and light crisp crust (given that you creamed the butter well enough). Also it’s not too sweet!
Just made these today. I love the fact that they didn’t spread. I hate flat cookies. They turned out just fine with the jimmies. Will definitely make these again.
These are fantastic!!!
Hello, how many cookies does this recipe make?
Hi Melissa,
This is one of my favorite recipes; I’ve made it a bunch of times of the last few years. Question though – I recently moved to 6,200 ft elevation and I’m having trouble adjusting the recipe, as the cookies are spreading pretty significantly. I’ve tried following King Arthur Flour’s high altitude guide, which recommends decreasing the sugar by 1 TBS per cup and increasing the oven temp by 15-25 degrees. However, I didn’t want to bump the temperature beyond 400….I did try the sugar decrease and I also froze the formed dough balls for about three hours. They did not spread as much, but I’m missing the thick, domed cookies I used to get at sea level.
Do you have any high altitude tips or experience? I’m thinking I should increase the flour a bit as well…..
Thanks so much for any help.
Best,
Katie
These cookies are really amazing! I ended up using dark brown sugar (because I was out of light) and they turned out so delicious! I also rolled the cookies in sprinkles to create a sprinkle shell….my kids loved them! Thank you for the recipe!!
Do you use Dard or Light brown sugar for this recipe?
I made these and the disappeared so fast! Loved them as much as my kids did. Lovely and easy way to make a wistful treat without needing an occasion to celebrate.
Oh, my kids will love these!!! Definitely a great addition to any birthday party or shower.
You are so sweet! Thank you! They are my kid’s favorites too. Kids LOVE all things sprinkles!
Regular visitor to your site – these look wonderful, right up my kids’ alley! One question: what kind of sprinkles did you use? The cookies are pictured w/ nonpareils (crunchy dots) in the background, but appear to actually contain jimmies (longer ones). I’m interested because I hate the waxy taste of jimmies (ruins most funfetti recipes for me), but every Funfetti recipe I’ve seen up to now says the nonpareils won’t work (will just bleed and dissolve)… do you think freezing the nonpareils beforehand would work to keep their shape intact?
Thank you!
R
I have no clue really but to me it looks like she used both – if you zoom in on the cookie you can see some that look like melted jimmies and some that look like the round hard ones. Im interested as well!
Thank you so much for following along! That’s a great question! I used only the rainbow jimmies. The nonpareils crunchy dots were only used to add color in the background of the photo. I didn’t use them in the cookies. I think there are better tasting sprinkles jimmies out there. They even have flavored ones! I hope that helps. Have a great day! — Melissa
I used the dots and they turned out fine! Delicious and very popular!