I have an obsession. Yes, with chocolate, but also with sprinkles. In my opinion, the more, the better – they’re just so fun and happy and brighten up any baked creation. I have one problem though… in the UK, our range of sprinkles is disappointingly poor. Our supermarkets need to up their game on the jimmies front. There seems to be a single choice in the supermarket aisle, unless you want to venture online and buy enough to bathe in the things, remortgaging your house in the process. Our sprinkles are just a bit, well, dull. They seem to lack a little oomph and zing; I’d love it if the colours popped with bright reds, oranges and pinks, but instead we have dark yellow, navy blue and a sort of dark pink, with a few bright greens thrown in to lift the sprinkle palette. Our sprinkles seem to be a little shy of fulfilling their potential as exuberant decoration, so it seems I’ll have to make do with them as they are, but I still reckon they’re fun enough to brighten up your day!
These sprinkle cookies are just that – fun! Their texture is light and fluffy and the sprinkles give them a little added rainbow magic. Now at first bite, they didn’t set my world on fire, but after two or three bites, I was ready to eat the entire batch. So different from my normal bakes, I reckon next time I may be tempted to throw a handful of chocolate chunks in. They don’t need them, though. I really need to restrain myself – chocolate AND sprinkles in the same cookie…? That may just be perfection… watch this space. For now though…
Sprinkles Cookies
Makes 12
Ingredients
100g baking spread or butter
30g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Lots of sprinkles!
Method
- Preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas Mark 5 and line two baking sheets with baking paper or reusable non stick sheets.
- Beat your butter, cream cheese and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer so they’re nice and pale – a minute or so.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and combine.
- Mix your flour, baking powder and salt in your scale pan or small bowl, and add that to the mix as well, mixing slowly at first and upping the speed once the flour’s not so cloudy!
- Now you need to be able to handle your mixture, so if it’s a bit too sticky, cover the bowl and pop it in the fridge for half an hour.
- Use an ice cream scoop and divide your cookie dough into 12 portions. It will still probably be relatively sticky, but go with it!
- Roll each portion into a ball and dip it into a little bowl of sprinkles.
- Place each cookie on your baking sheet and gently press down to flatten using a glass or your hand. You can add a few more sprinkles to the edges if you like.
- Pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes. They will come out pale, but the bottoms should just be starting to turn golden.
- Let them cool on the trays for a few minutes, before moving them to a cooling rack.
- Stack ’em up and share ’em out!
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Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
