Birthday Cake Cookies
These soft, chewy birthday cake cookies are everything you love about birthday cake in cookie form: sprinkles, swirls of buttercream frosting, and more sprinkles.
Servings 36 cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 1 ⅓ cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sprinkles
For the Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
For the Cookies
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until the dough comes together. Mix in sprinkles.
- Cover and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) to drop dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to rest for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cookies have cooled completely, prepare the buttercream frosting.
For the Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed for about 6 minutes.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in powdered sugar, and continue beating until well blended.
- Add in vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk. Mix on low speed until moistened.
- Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy; about 5 more minutes. If your frosting is too thick, gradually add a little more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
- Pipe frosting onto cooled cookies and top with festive sprinkles.
Notes
- If you want to maintain a bright white frosting, use clear vanilla in the buttercream.
- The minimum chilling time for this cookie dough is 1-2 hours, but you can let it chill for up to 24 hours before baking. If you keep it in the fridge for longer than 2 hours, you will likely need to allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30-40 minutes before scooping and baking.
- You can use any sprinkles or sprinkle mixes you like best, but I typically prefer rainbow jimmies (the long sprinkles). If you have shaped sprinkles (such as hearts, stars, etc), the shapes will not show up very well in the cookies themselves, so I suggest saving those for decorating the tops of the cookies.
- Unfrosted birthday cake cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. You can store frosted cookies in a covered container on the counter for 2-3 days as long as the room is not too warm. If the room is warm, I recommend storing them in the refrigerator and letting them come to room temperature before serving.