These fun and colorful stacked Christmas cookies are deliciously soft and chewy, with crispy bites of sprinkles! Each cookie features a base sprinkle cookie topped off with a plain cookie to make decorating a breeze.
These cookies were inspired by the viral Pillsbury cookies that people were stacking during Halloween! But since I never really keep Pillsbury on hand (because I make MORE than enough cookies at home lol) I decided to try achieving the same kind of idea but with fully homemade cookies!
We have a bottom cookie layer that's rolled in colorful and festive Christmas sprinkles topped with another layer of plain cookie dough. The plain cookie dough top makes the perfect little pedestal for piping some pretty little Christmas designs!
I went with a few Christmas trees, Santa hats, and snowflakes - but you can get even more creative if you'd like! My skills do NOT include cookie decorating, soooo we're sticking with simple designs this time around. You could also leave them plain if you prefer, or roll the top portion of cookie dough in a different color sprinkle for a double decker sprinkle filled cookie!
what makes these stacked Christmas sprinkle cookies so good?
- colorful and Christmassy!
- soft and chewy with crispy sprinkles
- easy to make & decorate
- super fun baking project
the cookie dough
For these cookies, I decided to use my favorite sugar cookie dough recipe - which has it's own post, but I also included it below for sake of ease! But that being said, this cookie recipe can be made with virtually any cookie dough you like, as long as it's a relatively low spread dough.
Sugar cookie dough will give you the same kind of texture and chew factor that you would get from a Pillsbury cookie.
how to make stacked Christmas sprinkle cookies
Make the cookie dough:
1. Cream together butter and sugar.
2. Whisk in egg and vanilla.
3. Add in dry ingredients and mix together until you get a streak-free cookie dough.
Stack the cookies:
1. Roll a portion of dough into a ball, then roll around in festive sprinkles to coat the outside.
2. Place the sprinkle ball of dough on your baking sheet, then flatten into a ¼ inch thick disk. I find this is easiest to do with the bottom of a measuring cup, but you can smoosh it with your hand.
3. Take a smaller portion of dough and flatten into a disk, then place on top of the sprinkle covered disk of dough. Make sure the top dough is smaller than the bottom dough so you can really see those sprinkles shine through!
For the top disk, I use dough that's half the size as the bottom cookie dough. I find that will give you the perfect size cookie to stack on top.
4. Bake cookies. They'll spread out a tiny bit and are ready once they're puffed up and the bottom edges are slightly browned.
5. Cool. They'll be super soft when they first come out of the oven, so let them cool for a few minutes on the tray before carefully transferring to a wire rack. Set aside to cool completely before decorating.
Make the buttercream frosting:
1. Cream together butter, sugar, and salt.
2. Add milk and vanilla.
3. Divide and color. You can leave all the frosting plain white or color all of it one color if you have a specific design in mind! I personally divided my frosting in three: I left one portion plain white, and then I colored one portion red and one portion green.
4. Decorate! Once the cookies have cooled, you can pipe on some trees, Santa hats, snowflakes, and / or whatever design you'd like!
best sprinkles for Christmas cookies
I like rolling these cookies in nonpareil sprinkles (a mix of all red, all green, and red/green/white sprinkles). While nonpareil sprinkles are a huge no-no to use when making something like funfetti cupcakes (because they're very prone to bleeding into cake batters), I actually love them in this recipe for that very reason!
There isn't huge amount of color bleeding into the cookie dough, but nonpareils very lightly tint the color of the surrounding cookie dough and just make it all the more festive and colorful! Nonpareils are quite crunchy, so if you prefer a slightly softer / melt in your mouth outside, jimmies sprinkles, quin sprinkles, and colored sparkling sugar also make great choices for these cookies.
storage
These cookies will keep for around 4 days at room temperature or around 1 week in the fridge. Cover tightly with plastic wrap to keep them soft. If you can manage it, decorated cookies are best stored in a single layer. If you really need to stack them, let your frosting decorations dry completely before stacking to help keep your design in one piece.
check out these other recipes!
• Gingerbread Cookie Bars
• Melting Snowman Cookies
• Chai Spiced Snowflake Cookies
• Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
Lastly, if you made this or any of my recipes, be sure to leave a comment and review below! I love hearing your thoughts! Also tag me on Instagram @eatsdelightfulblog so I can see what you're making.
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Stacked Christmas Sprinkle Cookies Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 cookies (approx.)
Description
These fun and colorful stacked Christmas cookies are deliciously soft and chewy, with crispy bites of sprinkles! Each cookie features a base sprinkle cookie topped off with a plain cookie to make decorating a breeze.
Ingredients
For the sprinkle sugar cookies
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 225g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 & ½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour, spoon and leveled
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Christmas colored sprinkles (for rolling the cookies *see notes)
For the buttercream frosting (optional - to decorate)
- ¼ cup (½ stick / 60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (130g) powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
- red and green gel food colorings
- more sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Make the sprinkle cookies: In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a wooden spoon by hand, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
- Add the egg and vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add your flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Fold together until you have a streak free cookie dough. The cookie dough should be soft, but shouldn't stick to your hands. If it's too sticky to work with, pop it into the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes or until firmed up enough to handle.
- Scoop a 1.5 tablespoon sized portion of dough and roll into a smooth ball. Roll the ball of dough around in your choice of colored sprinkles to completely coat. Place the sprinkle covered ball of dough on your parchment lined baking sheet and flatten into a ¼ inch thick disk.
- Take another piece of dough (about half the size of the sprinkle covered dough) and press into a small disk shape that's smaller than the disk of sprinkle dough. Lay the plain disk of dough over the sprinkle covered dough and gently press to stick it on. See above for visual.
- Repeat the process of stacking sprinkle covered dough with plain dough. Make sure to leave about 1 inch of space between each cookie on your baking sheet.
- Bake the stacked cookies in the center of your preheated 350°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until puffed and lightly browned along the bottom edges.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully transfer onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely to room temperature.
- Make the buttercream frosting: In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, and salt. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a wooden spoon by hand, mix together until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth and lightened in color.
- Add vanilla and 1 tablespoon of milk, and whisk together until combined and fluffy. If needed, gradually whisk in more milk until you reach your desired consistency.
- To create the designs I made for these cookies, divide the frosting into thirds. Leave ⅓ of the buttercream plain white, and color ⅓ red and ⅓ green.
- Decorate the cookie tops with some with your favorite Christmassy designs - I just piped on some snowflakes, Christmas trees, and Santa hats! Before the frosting sets, sprinkle over some white sprinkles on the snowflakes for added sparkle and crunch. Sprinkle some rainbow sprinkles over the trees to resemble Christmas lights. Or you can also leave the cookies plain. Serve and enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
* I used nonpareils for my cookies - a mix of red, green, and white! They are quite crunchy, so if you prefer a slightly softer / melt in your mouth outside, jimmies sprinkles, quin sprinkles, or colored sparkling sugar also make great choices for these cookies.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Bake Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Cookies
Enjoy!
Cindy Outland says
Hi Mimi,
My name is Cindy, and I have made multiple batches of these cookies for my friends and family. The process of making and decorating them was as fun as giving them away. Thank you and Merry Christmas
Sincerely,
Cindy
Mimi says
Hey Cindy! I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe ❤️ Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!! 🎄❤️
Paige says
The taste and bake of these were great but I was not able to get the nonpareils to stick to the cookie dough at all. Decided to do colored sugar instead and that worked well and the cookies were still great, but not the same visually as I was hoping for with the nonpareils!
Ty says
Would this recipe work with Pillsbury holiday sugar cookies on top? If so is the process/baking the same?
Mimi says
I haven't personally tried it, but I think it should work just fine! I would just make the bottom cookies a bit bigger so they still show underneath, and you may need to add 1 or 2 minutes to the bake time ❤️
Valerie says
Found these on IG and wanted to make them for a holiday party. They turned out so buttery, with crisp edges and a fluffy inside. So good! And really cute.
Phyllis says
Can you freeze these cookies?