Sprinkles Birthday Cake Cookies

24 cookies
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Chewy, crispy cookies that taste like a birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A delicious treat for a birthday lunch or party dessert table.

Classic Cookies like Chocolate Chip Cookies, Snickerdoodles, or Oatmeal Cookies certainly have their place in your hearts, but birthdays call for a little extra something special that these Birthday Cake Cookies deliver!

Birthday Cake Cookies on wire cooling rack

Full of sprinkles and white chocolate chips (which add the flavor of “frosting” to the cookie) these cookies are tender and chewy and taste like you’re taking a giant bite out of a yellow birthday cake covered in sprinkles. The best part of it is no cake mix is involved so you can be sure of the ingredients going into your cookies. You can substitute natural sprinkles if you would like as well if you would like to go all organic or eliminate anything with artificial colors.

For many, birthday celebrations are as much fun to plan and bake as they are to see the joy of opening presents. These cookies are perfect for kids’ parties because they are compact, portable, there’s little mess since there’s no frosting, and they look beautiful presented on a platter as the main dessert or as part of a dessert display alongside cupcakes, candies, and chocolate covered pretzels.

Once you try these, you’ll want to make them as an annual birthday tradition every year. And they are the perfect celebratory treat that can go in a lunchbox as easily as they can be part of a party. They are everything birthdays should be.

Birthday Cake Cookies Collage

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I make Chocolate Birthday Cake Cookies

Add milk or semisweet chocolate chips and sub out ¼ cup of the flour for cocoa powder for a chocolate cake twist. Or add ¼ teaspoon mint extract, swap in milk chocolate chips and some green food coloring to the mix to make these into mint chocolate cake cookies.

How can I make these cookies with a color theme?

Color code them to your party with just a couple drops of food coloring of your choice. Pink and purple work particularly well. Color code your sprinkles to your favorite sports team for a fun game day treat.

Can I use Birthday Cake Cookies for Ice Cream Sandwiches?

Yes! Sandwich these cookies around some delicious Sprinkles Cake Batter Ice Cream or your favorite flavor for a colorful cool treat.

Birthday Cake Cookies on wire cooling rack

How to Make Birthday Cake Cookies

Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy for 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until fully combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and powdered milk. Add to the stand mixer and combine on low speed. Add in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix gently. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (at least 30 minutes, but up to 2 days is even better). When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll into balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes. You aren’t looking for them to brown. The bottoms should look only slightly more golden than the tops. If you want some help with it cooking more evenly and not browning, try using a Silpat.

Birthday Cake Cookies on serving plate with bite taken

How to Store Birthday Cake Cookies

  • Serve: Freshly baked cookies can stay good at room temperature for up to 5 days. After a few hours, you’ll want to transfer them to an airtight container so they stay fresh. 
  • Store: Birthday Cake Cookies can also keep well sealed in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.
  • Freeze: For long-term storage, put them in a freezer bag or another airtight container. They’ll stay good frozen for 3 months.
Birthday Cake Cookies on serving plate

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Birthday Cake Cookies

Chewy, crispy cookies that taste like a birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A delicious treat for a birthday lunch or party dessert table.
Yield 24 cookies
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 tablespoons powdered milk
  • 3/4 cup white chocolate chips , (I used a blend of white and semi-sweet chocolate chips)
  • 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

Instructions

  • Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy for 3 minutes.
  • Add the egg and vanilla; beat until fully combined.
  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and powdered milk.
  • Add to the stand mixer and combine on low speed.
  • Add in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix gently.
  • Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (at least 30 minutes, but up to 2 days is even better).
  • When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll into balls.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes. Make sure not to brown the cookies.

Nutrition

Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 35mg | Potassium: 65mg | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 0.6mg
Keyword: Sprinkles Birthday Cake Cookies, Sprinkles Cookies
Birthday Cake Cookies Collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.
Chewy, crispy delicious cookies that taste like a delicious birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A perfect treat for a birthday lunch or a birthday party dessert table, these cookies will put a huge smile on your face.

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I made these and they turned out very flat. Do you know what I could have done wrong? Other than that they still taste amazing!

    1. Oh no! Glad they still tasted good though. Flat cookies could be from a number of things. Make sure to accurately measure your flour because too little can cause that and remember to double check the dates on baking powder and baking soda. Hope this helps to troubleshoot for next time.

  2. I made these, and they turned out quite well. My only request is that when people post recipes, to use weights rather than other measurements like ‘a stick’. I had to look up what a stick of butter was and how much it weighed. The batter is drier than I had expected, so my only change was i put the cookies into balls and then refrigerated for only about 15 mins for each cookie tray as I didn’t want them to dry out too much.

    1. Certainly – if you click on the servings (it will be green bold) in the recipe card, a slider will appear. Slide to double the amount and the ingredients amounts will automatically adjust. 🙂

  3. Why did you use powdered milk? Can we sub for regular milk? Just wondering as not sure where to get powdered milk and only for 3 tablespoons :). Thanks!

    1. Do you have a sprouts or Winco? Or any store with bulk? I usually get it there, but powdered milk helps to add that cakey flavor.

  4. Oh wow they look amazing! I’m pretty sure my whole family would love these and they’d be gone pretty quickly. They are super pretty cookies too!

  5. Oh these do look so good. I would love to make these for my son. He just his birthday but anytime is a good time for birthday cake cookies, right? 🙂

  6. We are going to a BBQ this weekend and these cookies would be fantastic to bring. I will have to make some up this afternoon.

  7. The Birthday table looks amazing with all the sprinkles. My Daughter would love it. The cookies look good and easy to make.

  8. These are just the kind of cookies I wish I always had in the house. So fun and flavorful! Milk powder is such a great secret ingredient.

  9. I have a thing for sprinkled or funfetti items so I’m totally making these tonight! After all, it’s someone’s birthday somewhere right?

  10. These look so fun to make. Such a great idea for kids’ birthday party! They look really tasty! Want to run to the kitchen and a batch of these 🙂

  11. SPRINKLES!!!!! Oh my gosh, that is going to be the theme of my daughter’s 4th birthday, it has to be! Those cookies look amazing!

  12. For sure it’s always a happy birthday when you have these cookies on the dessert table! Love it – looks delightfully delish!

  13. These cookies look and sound yummy. My son doesn’t like cake so I always make cookies for his birthday. I think he will love these. Thanks for the recipe.