Confetti Cookies
Loaded with rainbow sprinkles and plenty of birthday cake flavor, these confetti cookies might make you reconsider the idea of having cake on your special day. They’re just that good.
Get creamed
Make sure you’re creaming your butter and sugars together for the entire time outlined in the recipe. Creaming isn’t about combining the ingredients, it’s about forcing as much air into the recipe as possible. When the cookies go into the oven, these tiny air bubbles you’ve created will take up the gasses that are released by the chemical reaction that you leavener releases. More air pockets = lighter cookies!
Vanilla
Clear vanilla extract has a distinct “birthday cake” flavor that higher quality extracts just don’t offer. Make no mistake, if you use the real stuff instead, you’re going to have delicious cookies. But the clear vanilla has that birthday cake taste I wanted for this recipe.
Bread flour might seem weird for cookies, right? Maybe, but actually, bread flour has everything that an awesome cookie needs, mainly a higher protein content. Different flours have different levels of protein in them. The higher the percentage, the more structure it provides in the final baked good. I am so intent on this, I even made a table for you.
| Bread | 12-14% | ||
| All Purpose | 10-12% | ||
| Pastry | 8-9% | ||
| Self-Rising | 8.5% | ||
| Cake | 5-8% |
More protein content means more structure and gluten formation in a baked good. That’s why bread flour yields a firm but soft loaf of white sandwich bread, while cake flour produces a tender, moist crumb that easily cuts with a fork.
For these cookies, we meet in the middle with slightly more bread flour than all purpose. The bread flour keeps things chewy and stable, and the all purpose flour provides the softness and tenderness we all love in a cookie. Best of both worlds.
These cookies are soft and delicious, but still hold up in a glass of milk. They’re shelf stable for the better part of two weeks.
Leavening
This recipe doesn’t call for baking powder like most do. Instead, we’re using a combination of cream of tartar and baking soda. Cream of tartar is a stabilizer, and prevents the sugar in the dough from completely crystallizing during the baking process.
Baking Time & Storage
When these confetti cookies are done, they won’t look like it. At least not in the middle. Just leave them alone on the baking sheet until they’re cool, and you’ll be rewarded with a soft, tender and crisp-edged cookie.
As for storing these, keep them in an airtight container or bag. After a day, the edges will soften like the rest of the cookie. Cookies will keep for about a week before starting to get stale.
Confetti Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour + 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour + 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft, chewy and oh so pretty, these cookies aren’t relegated to birthdays.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups bread flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Combine the flours, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars together on high speed for 3 full minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape the bowl down. While mixing on low speed, add the egg and vanilla, incorporate well.
- Add the dry ingredients in increments, making sure each one is fully mixed in, but don’t over mix the dough. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop the mixer and add the sprinkles. Mix them in by hand with a spatula, just until incorporated. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for at least an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a medium cookie scoop, create dough balls and roll them in your hands, using a good amount of pressure, and form them until smooth. Bake for 11 minutes. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
They will look not done in the middle, but don’t be scared. They will finish cooking on the baking sheet. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheets.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 174
- Sugar: 16.2 g
- Sodium: 111.8 mg
- Fat: 9.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.5 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 2.1 g
- Cholesterol: 27.6 mg
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