Confetti Cake Cookies
These taste exactly like the fun confetti cakes we all know and love! I wanted to take the taste of confetti cake and put it into a cookie. After much trial and error, I was finally able to recreate that iconic flavor!
As with all my recipes, I use the scientific method to carefully craft them to ensure you get deliciously perfect results every time.
My recipe doesn’t use a boxed cake mix. It’s all from scratch.
The secret ingredient is…
Drum roll…
butter extract!
Yes, to recreate that traditional birthday cake flavor, the trick is to use butter extract.
I hope you give my confetti cake cookies a try because they are the perfect cookie for fun and celebration! I guarantee they will bring a smile to anyone’s face!
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
2 sticks (226 grams or 1 cup) of unsalted butter
2 large eggs
200 grams (1 cup) of white granulated sugar
104 grams (1/2 cup, packed) of light brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of butter extract
384 grams (3 cups) of all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
90 grams (1/2 cup) of rainbow sprinkles
More rainbow sprinkles for dipping
Yields 24 cookies
Instructions
Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small pieces to help it come to room temperature.
Geeky Tip: Ingredients that are all the same temperature incorporate more easily and fully.
Fully whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside.
Geeky Tip: Whisking together all the dry ingredients ensures a homogenous mixture, and it breaks up any clumps in the flour. Also, make sure to keep flour in an airtight container in a cool, dry place to maintain freshness and prevent spoilage.
Beat the butter until it has a smooth appearance. About 1 minute on medium-high speed.
Geeky Tip: This helps to work some air into the butter that will aid the rise later, and it makes it easier for the sugar to cut into the butter.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the white sugar into the butter, and cream together until lighter in color and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Geeky Tip: Adding the white sugar before the light brown sugar produces a better result and makes it easier for the white sugar crystals to cut into the butter to create small air pockets that will help generate the rise later.
Add the brown sugar, and cream together until fully incorporated. About 1 minute on medium-high speed.
Geeky Tip: If the brown sugar is packed, break it up with a fork to help it incorporate better.
Scrape down the bowl.
Beat in the eggs until they are incorporated.
Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Mix in the pure vanilla extract and butter extract.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by halves, and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
Geeky Tip: Overmixing will build up the gluten and protein structure in the dough and lead to a tougher and denser cookie.
Gently fold the rainbow sprinkles into the dough.
Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Geeky Tip: Oven temperatures vary wildly, so get an oven thermometer. When my oven “beeps” to indicate pre-heating is done, it is usually 50-75 degrees below the target temperature. An oven thermometer is the best $5 baking investment you can make!
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Geeky Tip: I highly recommend using a light-colored aluminum baking sheet. Baking sheets that are dark will conduct more heat and may burn whatever is on them. Just think of wearing a black shirt versus a white shirt on a hot sunny day. Old baking sheets that have dark spots may heat unevenly.
Put more rainbow sprinkles for rolling into a bowl.
After the dough has chilled for 1 hour, remove it from the refrigerator.
Using a #30 cookie scoop (2 tablespoons), make scoops of dough, and roll them into balls with your hands.
Geeky Tip: Rolling them into balls helps them have a more uniformly circular shape during baking.
Dip only the top of each ball into the sprinkles. Evenly space the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet.
Bake on the oven’s center rack for 13-15 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as the edges just start to turn golden to ensure they keep the color of confetti cake.
After baking, place the sheet on a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
Storage
To store the cookies, put them in an airtight container with a slice of fresh plain bread. The bread helps to keep the cookies from going stale. They can be stored at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Confetti Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (226 grams or 1 cup) of unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 200 grams (1 cup) of white granulated sugar
- 104 grams (½ cup, packed) of light brown sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of butter extract
- 384 grams (3 cups) of all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 90 grams (½ cup) of rainbow sprinkles
- More rainbow sprinkles for dipping
Instructions
- Let all ingredients come to room temperature. Cut the butter into small pieces to help it come to room temperature.
- Fully whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside.
- Beat the butter until it has a smooth appearance. About 1 minute on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the sugar into the butter, and cream together until lighter in color and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed. Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Beat in the eggs until they are incorporated. Occasionally, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix in the pure vanilla extract and butter extract.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients by halves, and mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix.
- Gently fold the rainbow sprinkles into the dough.
- Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Put more rainbow sprinkles for rolling into a bowl.
- After the dough has chilled for 1 hour, remove it from the refrigerator.
- Using a #30 cookie scoop (2 tablespoons), make scoops of dough, and roll them into balls with your hands.
- Dip only the top of each ball into the sprinkles. Evenly space the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet.
- Bake on the oven’s center rack for 13-15 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as the edges just start to turn golden. After baking, place the sheet on a wire rack to cool.
Notes
To store the cookies, put them in an airtight container with a slice of fresh plain bread. The bread helps to keep the cookies from going stale. They can be stored at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. They can be frozen for up to 6 months.