These Slice and Bake Cookies are deliciously buttery and sweet. They’re dotted with fun, colorful sprinkles, and if you’re feeling it, drizzled in creamy white chocolate!
Slice and Bake Cookies
I love cookies and have shared numerous intricate and detailed cookie recipes over the year.
While I’m particular about my recipes, which often involve more steps than typical cookies and include added toppings like frosting or sauces (like those salted caramel cookies with both!), this recipe is simpler.
It doesn’t require tedious dough preparation and is easy to make with a stand mixer. Despite its simplicity, these cookies are rich, buttery, and sweet, with an optional chocolate drizzle for added richness. They’re delicious with or without the chocolate topping.
Slice and Bake Cookies Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter: Use cold, cubed for a best texture and high-quality for better flavor.
- Light Brown Sugar: Adds moisture, chewiness; ensure it’s fresh and soft.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Provides a warm, sweet aroma.
- Pure Almond Extract (optional): Offers nutty sweetness and a more complex flavor.
- Salt: Balances and enhances flavors.
- Cornstarch: Creates tender, soft cookies.
- White All-Purpose Flour: Measure accurately to avoid dry or cookies that spread.
Ingredients, Continued
- Jimmies: Adds color, texture, and pop of sweetness.
- Large Egg: Acts as a binder, giving cookies a crunchy, sugary edge.
- Coarse Sparkling Sugar: Enhances cookies with crunch and sparkle. Available in supermarkets or online.
- White Chocolate Chips (optional): Adds creamy sweetness. Use high-quality for flavor and melting.
- Vegetable Oil (optional): Thins melted chocolate for easy drizzling.
Quick Tip
Use jimmies, not nonpareils, for better color stability and texture in these Slice and Bake Cookies. Nonpareils can bleed color and be too crunchy.
How To Make Slice and Bake Cookies (Tips)
- Avoid Over-mixing Dough: Mix just until flour is incorporated to prevent tough cookies.
- Gentle Mixing: Stir jimmies gently for even dispersion without breaking them or coloring the dough.
- Roll Dough Evenly: Even logs ensure uniform cookie size and even baking.
- Chill Dough: Chilling prevents excessive spreading and eases slicing.
- Even Slicing: Use a sharp knife for uniform slices, ensuring even baking.
- Monitor Bake Time: Check cookies from the 10-minute mark; center should be set.
- Reshape After Baking: Gently round any misshapen cookies while they’re still soft.
Variations
Make These Slice and Bake Cookies Your Own!
- Flavors: Experiment with lemon, coconut, or orange extracts, or add spice blends like pumpkin spice spice, or apple pie spice.
- Nuts: Mix in chopped nuts or roll dough in nuts.
- Holiday Themes: Use seasonal sprinkles or colored sugar for festive vibes.
- Chocolate Slice and Bake Cookies: Add mini chocolate chips to dough and drizzle with milk chocolate.
- Dipped Cookies: Dip in chocolate and top with nuts or coconut.
Storage
Storage
- Store in an airtight container; use parchment in between the chocolate-coated Slice and Bake Cookies.
- Freeze dough logs; cut then bake directly from frozen, slightly increasing baking time.
More Easy Dessert Recipes:
Slice and Bake Cookies
These buttery Slice and Bake Cookies are sweet, packed with colorful sprinkles, and perfect for a drizzle of white chocolate if you're feeling it!
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract optional
- 1/2 heaping teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2-1/4 cups (325g) all-purpose flour (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup jimmy rainbow sprinkles (Note 2)
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup extra-coarse sugar, for rolling cookies in (Note 3)
Optional: White Chocolate Drizzle
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- CREAM BUTTER: In an electric or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together until they're creamy, similar in consistency to peanut butter. This should take about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- FINISH DOUGH: Add in the vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), sea salt, and cornstarch. Beat just until combined. Then, add in the flour and beat just until incorporated. Avoid over-mixing.
- ADD SPRINKLES: Fold in the sprinkles and mix gently. The dough may seem a bit crumbly at first, but it will come together with some mixing/kneading.
- CHILL DOUGH: Form the dough into one large ball, then divide it in half. Shape each half into a log that's about 11 inches long and roughly 1.5 inches in diameter. Roll it on the counter to help even it out. Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- SLICE COOKIES: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat liner. Pour the sparkling sugar onto a large flat plate. Unwrap one log of dough at a time from the fridge, cut it in half, then brush the outside of each half-log with the beaten egg. Roll the dough log in the sparkling sugar.
- BAKE: Slice each dough log into 1/2-inch thick cookies. Place the cookies on your prepared baking sheet, spacing 1-inch apart. Bake until the edges are just starting to lightly brown, which should take about 8-12 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on them to prevent over-baking.
- COOL: Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Let them cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- OPTIONAL WHITE CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the white chocolate chips and vegetable oil. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring for 15 seconds between each burst, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Dip half of each cooled cookie into the white chocolate or pour the melted chocolate into a plastic bag, snip off the tip, and drizzle it over the cookies. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature before serving.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Flour: Over-measuring your flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies while under-measuring will cause the cookies to spread and lose shape. Be sure to level off the top of the measuring cup with the flat side of a butter-knife for the most accurate measurement. Or best case -- use a kitchen food scale to measure the flour amount (we're looking for 325 grams here).
Note 2: Sprinkles: Use sprinkle jimmies, not nonpareils. Here’s a breakdown of different types of sprinkles, but essentially the jimmies won’t dye the cookie dough and they bake up nicely. Nonpareils will bleed color into the cookie dough, are often uncomfortably crunchy, and may leave you with some funky-colored slice and bake cookies.
Note 3: Coarse Sugar: This extra-coarse sugar adds a lovely sweetness and crunch to the cookies. If you aren't able to find it, use sparkling sugar or cane sugar instead.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.6g | Protein: 1.7g | Fat: 9.1g | Cholesterol: 28.1mg | Sodium: 54.6mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 12.4g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
