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Birthday Cookies are a fun cookie recipe with sprinkles that is perfect for birthday parties, holidays, or anytime you want to treat yourself! This is an easy one-bowl recipe that makes the BEST sprinkle chocolate chip cookies.
Y’all know I love me a rainbow jimmie but you can actually use ANY color sprinkles for any holiday!
I have a rule that anytime you add sprinkles to a recipe it’s appropriate for a birthday celebration! I love birthday cake as much as the next person, but a batch of homemade birthday cookies is just as fun and a creative way to put a twist on dessert for a special occasion.
I call these Birthday Cookies because they have my favorite rainbow sprinkles, but switch up the colors and you can make these for pretty much any holiday or celebration. I basically took my best chocolate chip cookies and gave them a sprinkle twist. You are going to love this recipe!
Table of Contents
6 Reasons to Make Birthday Cookies (Instead of Cake!)
- It’s so much easier! This is a one-bowl cookie recipe.
- You get to use melted butter – no waiting for butter to soften.
- The cookies have the best soft and chewy texture. They really are the best!
- No frosting or fussy decorations required – the sprinkles mixed into the dough give the cookies a festive birthday vibe.
- Cookies are so much easier to serve – no slicing, messy frosting, or plates and forks to worry about.
- These cookies keep well at room temperature or you can freeze them. You can even ship them in the mail to surprise someone! I wrote a whole post about shipping cookies with lots of great tips.
Once you know how to make birthday cookies you may just skip the cake! Okay, maybe you won’t give up cake forever, but these cookies are a fun way to switch it up!
Birthday Cookie Ingredients
- Melted unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Chocolate chips
- Sprinkles!
You just need one bowl and a wooden spoon to make this recipe!
How to make Chocolate Chip Cookies with sprinkles
Mix: Combine the butter with both sugars until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again. Mix in the baking soda and salt and then slowly add the flour mixing until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and sprinkles and stir until they are distributed through the dough.
Chill: Form the dough into balls and place them on a cookies sheet. Chill them for at least two hours. Don’t skip this step – chilling the dough will prevent your cookies from spreading too much while they bake.
Bake: Space the chilled dough balls 2-inches apart on a baking sheet and baked them for 11 to 15 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden and the tops of the cookies are no longer glossy.
Switch Up the Chocolate Chips and Sprinkles
For the chocolate chips, you can use semi-sweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate chips. Or do a mix of your favorites.
It probably goes without saying, but feel free to use your favorite color sprinkles. With so many options you can make these for every holiday, birthday, and event and never have them the same way twice.
Make Birthday Cookies Ahead and Storage Tips
Store them in an airtight container and they will keep for up to three days at room temperature. Or you can freeze them for up to three months.
Sometimes I make the dough and freeze the cookie dough balls to bake later. This is great if you don’t want a whole batch of fresh-baked cookies to tempt you! You can bake them a few at a time straight from the freezer – you just need to add a few minutes to the bake time.
Other Fun Sprinkle Recipes
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Chocolate Chip Birthday Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup (66 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (104g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups (186g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups (255g) chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk)
- 1/2 cup sprinkles (rainbow jimmies preferred)
Instructions
- Note: This dough requires chilling.
- Place melted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl if using a hand mixer). Add granulated and brown sugars and mix on low speed until the mixture is smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Mix in baking soda and salt, then slowly mix in flour and mix just until the batter is smooth and comes together. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl during mixing. Slowly mix in chocolate chips and sprinkles.
- Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Scoop 2 tablespoon balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. Spacing doesn’t matter because you will be chilling the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a second cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Remove the chilled cookie dough balls from the refrigerator and space them 2-inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake (2 tablespoon sized cookies) for 11-15 minutes, or until the edges are a light golden and the tops are no longer glossy. Let cool on the cookie sheets at least 10 minutes before removing.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Nutrition
Birthday Cookies are a fun and easy chocolate chip cookie recipe with sprinkles! This is the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie made with rainbow sprinkles but you can use any color for any holiday. These are great for birthday parties!
These are our family’s favorite cookies! If we want to make some to deliver to neighbors (a lot of neighbors!) the week after Thanksgiving but want to get a head start on baking since we want to give out several dozen, do you recommend freezing the dough or going ahead and baking the cookies and then freezing them that way? Will they still taste fresh? They would only be frozen less than 2 weeks. And do you recommend a Tupperware container or gallon sized bags or a different method? Thanks in advance for your help! These are delicious!!
I always freeze everything! You can freeze the cookie dough balls and just thaw a bit before baking (they should still be cold though, and you may want to give them a little press before they go in the oven to help them start falling). But I also freeze baked cookies and they taste great! It just depends if you want a gooey just baked taste or a cooled cookie texture.
Excellent! My (grown) kids love these!
Came out very dry
Can you let me know what kind of flour and butter you used? Did you make any changes?
The Chocolate Chip Birthday Cookie, Can You Make It With Out Electric Mixer , Just By Hand?
Since it starts with melted butter you can stir it by hand easily!
That’s what I’m doing, yes. I even tried not chilling them at all and they still don’t spread… Don’t know what’s happening !
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