Italian Sprinkle Cookies
These Italian Sprinkle Cookies are made with a rich, buttery dough, baked to perfection, and topped with sweet icing and your favorite sprinkles!
We love making cookies. In fact, we love making them almost as much as we love making cheesecake. If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you understand just what that means. We’ve made all kinds of cookies from traditional chocolate chip to cake batter varieties, but one of our favorites is Italian cookies. They’re so buttery and rich, and they always hit the spot.
We love to make these cookies for birthday parties, showers, any get-together, or just to have on hand for snacking. The sprinkles make them festive enough for special occasions, but they’re easy enough to make for any reason at all.
Table of contents
Italian Sprinkle Cookies
The thing that makes these delicious cookies so great is that they have “just enough” of everything we love about cookies. What does that mean? Well, they’re buttery but not to the point of making you feel heavy. They’re sweet, but they’re not too sweet. In fact, the dough is quite understated. It’s the icing that gives it its sweet kick. They’re just all-around delicious. These cookies will always be a fan favorite at cookie swaps during Christmas time.
Italian Sprinkle Cookies Ingredients
These simple Italian sprinkle cookies only take a few ingredients to make both the dough and the icing. Outside of the sprinkles, you’ll probably have everything you need in your kitchen already.
For the Cookies
- Softened unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Room temperature eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
For the Icing
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
- Nonpareils sprinkles (or your favorite)
**See the recipe card at the end of the post for quantities.
Italian Sprinkles Cookies Instructions
Making these cookies is just as easy as gathering up the ingredients for them. It only takes a few steps and a few minutes.
Step 1: Combine the Wet Ingredients
Cream the butter and sugar together. Then, add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fully combined.
Step 2: Add the Dry Ingredients
Add the flour and baking powder and mix until cookie dough forms.
Step 3: Chill
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
Step 4: Bake
After an hour, remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator and roll it into 1-inch spheres. Place the spheres about 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees until the bottoms are lightly browned. Place the cookies on a wire rack and let them cool to room temperature.
Step 5: Make the Icing
In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and milk together.
Step 6: Ice and Sprinkle the Cookies
Dip the top of each cookie into the icing, then add sprinkles while the icing is wet. Let the cookies sit for 30 minutes to allow the icing to harden. Enjoy!
Hint: It’s important to add the sprinkles while the icing is wet so that they stick.
Equipment
You’ll only need a few basic kitchen supplies to make this recipe.
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Baking sheets or Cookie Sheets
- Parchment paper
- Whisk
- Cooling rack
- Cookie Scoop – Optional
Italian Sprinkle Cookies Tips
This recipe is one of the easiest you’ll ever make. That being said, we do have some tips to help you make them the best they can be.
Room Temperature Eggs – For best results be sure your eggs are room temperature. This helps the cookies retain their signature puffy shape.
Fully Softened Butter – Fully softened butter will give the butter and sugar mixture the smooth, creamy texture it needs to make these cookies perfect.
Icing – To ice these cookies, simply hold them by the bottom edges and dip them straight down into the icing. They’re domed enough that you should be able to easily do it.
Sprinkle Wet Icing – Sprinkle the cookies while the simple glaze is wet so the sprinkles stick.
Extract: You can use almond extract or your favorite extract instead of vanilla for extra flavor in this traditional Italian cookies recipe.
Sprinkles: I like to use colorful sprinkles for Italian sugar cookies. However, if you want to make them for a holiday, you can use sprinkles that match the holiday.
Overmixing: Be careful to not overmix these cookies, because you want tender cookies, and overmixing can use tough cookies instead.
Citrus: Next time try adding a little citrus flavor to the sweet glaze by mixing in some lemon juice, or orange zest for a nice zing to this sweet treat.
Storage
You can store these cookies in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week, however, they’re at their peak for the first 3 days. These cookies can also be stored in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to three months.
More Cookie Recipes
If you love cookies, then we have some recipes here that we think you’re going to really enjoy.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies with Brownie Mix
Air Fryer Peanut Butter Cookies
Italian Sprinkle Cookies FAQ
If you have questions about this recipe, then read on. The following FAQ answers the most commonly asked questions about these simple cookies.
PIN IT!!
No one knows who exactly invented cookies, but we do know where they’re from. The first cookies are believed to have been the small test cakes that bakers used to test their oven temperatures. They can be traced back to 7th century A.D. Persia, one of the first countries to grow and harvest sugar cane.
Sprinkles were invented by French bakers in the 18th century. They were called nonpareils (sound familiar) because they were “without parallel”.
They’ll keep for about a week in the refrigerator, but they’re best within the first 3 days.
Refrigerating the cookies controls their spread. It solidifies the fat mixed into the dough, which helps them spread less. This is required for this type of domed cookie.
Try These Italian Sprinkle Cookies for Yourself
These Italian sprinkle cookies are absolutely delicious, and they have the perfect combination of buttery richness and sweetness. But, as Lavar Burton said, don’t take our word for it. Try these tasty Italian sprinkle cookies for yourself. We know you’ll love them as much as we do.
Italian Sprinkle Cookies
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- mixing bowls
- Baking sheets or Cookie Sheets
- parchment paper
- Whisk
- cooling rack
- Cookie Scoop – Optional
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
For the Topping
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 3-4 tablespoons nonpareils sprinkles
Instructions
- Begin by creaming together butter and sugar.
- Slowly add eggs and vanilla. Mix until fully combined.
- Next, add flour and baking powder and mix until a cookie dough forms.
- Wrap cookie dough in plastic and chill for one hour.
- Once time is up, remove cookie dough from refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Roll cookie dough into spheres, about 1-inch in diameter. Space cookies at least 2 inches apart from each other (you may have to bake in batches).
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned.
- Allow for the cookies to cool down.
- In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and milk.
- Dip the top of each cooled cookie into the powdered sugar and milk mixture. Sprinkle with nonpareils sprinkles.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- It is important that you use room-temperature butter so that you have smooth cookie dough.
- These cookies should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. They can also be frozen for up to three months.
