Everyone loves a surprise, I know I do, and that is what you get with these Christmas Cookies with Sprinkles that have a surprise fudge middle layer. Rolled in red, green, and white sprinkles, these are the ultimate Christmas cookies with serious cookie cuteness.
tis the season for cookie baking
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Today, I turned on my favorite Christmas songs to get me in the holiday spirit and started my Christmas baking; it’s the season for delicious and colorful homemade cookies.
Don’t you love all the holiday colors? That’s one reason these stuffed cookies covered in Christmas sprinkles are irresistible. These tender chocolate-filled cookies are like two cookies in one with the soft sugar cookie on the outside.
These cookies have been a favorite holiday tradition for us; we make them every year for our Christmas party and give them as gifts.
Cookie ingredients
The best sprinkles for these cookies are called nonpareils. They are the little round balls that roll everywhere. Personally, I love using nonpareils instead of the jimmies for cookies since they keep their color when baked.
The holiday nonpareils are carried in craft stores but they are sometimes hard to find the exact colors you want for the specific holiday. So plan early. And, for these cookies, I would suggest getting two bottles or this larger bag, so you have plenty of sprinkles for rolling the cookies in.
Let’s make some cookies
We will be rolling dough today, not with a rolling pin but with our hands to make lots of dough balls.
Prepare – Line baking sheets with parchment paper, heat your oven to 375 degrees F, and pour the sprinkles into a big bowl.
Step 1. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until it is fluffy.
Step 2. Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt, then mix to combine, scraping the bowl.
Step 3. Add the egg, egg yolks, and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Step 4. With the mixer at medium speed, beat the flour to form a soft dough.
Step 5. Remove 3/4 cup of the dough and put it into a small separate bowl, then add the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and melted butter. Mix all together with a spoon until well combined.
Step 6. Add the almond extract to the plain dough.
Step 7. With a tablespoon, scoop out 30 pieces of plain dough and roll them into balls, and with a teaspoon, measure out 30 pieces of the chocolate dough and roll them into balls. (I normally get between 28 – 30 balls of each dough.)
Step 8.
How to form the cookie balls
- Flatten the plain almond-flavored dough into a round disk in the palm of your hand.
- Place the chocolate dough ball on top of the flat disk.
- Wrap the dough around the chocolate dough ball.
- Roll the one big dough ball around in your hand until it is smooth and slightly tacky. For the best results, immediately roll the dough ball into the nonpareil sprinkles and place it on the cookie sheet.
Sprinkle tip ~It is important you roll the dough ball immediately in the sprinkles while it is warm from your hands.
Steps to shape these cookies
Note: This first picture below is what happens when you don’t roll the dough ball immediately in the sprinkles; they just won’t stick, no matter what!
Step 9. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool completely, then store them in an airtight container.
This is the perfect cookie recipe to get the kids involved in decorating Christmas cookies. They can roll the dough into the balls and the sprinkles, and then prepare yourself for lots of joy and laughter.
I promise everyone will love these deliciously festive cookies, especially Santa.
What’s the Surprise?
Just take one bite of this cookie to find a fudgy chocolate center inside each cookie.
Cookie questions?
Yes, it is best to place the cookies in an airtight container and then place them in the freezer for up to three months. If you place them in a plastic bag, they may get jostled too much, and the sprinkles could fall off the cookies.
Bake more sprinkle cookies
These cookies are perfect not only for Christmas but also all year through. It’s so easy to roll the dough in different colors of nonpareils for different holidays, or maybe sports team colors, and just for fun. Sometimes, I change the middle filling color and flavor. There are so many options with sugar cookies.
- Make these Red Velvet Sugar Cookies for your sweetie on Valentine’s Day.
- To celebrate all things Irish, try these cookies for St. Patrick’s Day. They are covered in festive green and white sprinkles, and there is even a surprise inside the cookies.
- Fill Easter baskets with these pastel Raspberry Filled Cookies.
- Let’s get patriotic with Fourth of July Cookies that are covered in very festive red, white and blue sprinkles.
- Show your team colors like these Orange and Black Surprise Inside Cookies, these are for our San Francisco Giants. What’s fun is you can make these for any sport, and they are always a hit for game day.
- The Christmas Sugar Wafer Cookies are tasty no-bake cookies that the kids love to decorate with colorful candies and sprinkles.
🎄Baking for Christmas tips
Baking for Christmas should be fun. Many cookie recipes can be made and kept in airtight containers for a week. The batters can be made and kept in the refrigerator for several days before baking.
For these Chai Shortbread’s I have frozen the dough logs and then baked them during the holidays. Plus, shortbread cookies keep well for over a week.
Another cookie that keeps well is these Holiday Jeweled Biscotti. These are the first cookies I bake for the holidays since they will keep for several weeks.
Bake a batch of these Spice Cutout Cookies and freeze them. When you are ready to serve let them thaw and then decorate with a simple powdered sugar icing.
Pin to your cookie boards on Pinterest
More favorite cookies
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Christmas Sprinkle Sugar Cookies with a Surprise Inside
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups AP flour
- 1/3 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 5 ounces Red, white and green nonpareils
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line sheet pans with parchment paper or a Silpat.
- Pour the nonpareil sprinkles into a large bowl that is big enough to roll the dough balls in. Also, have a bowl deep enough so the sprinkles don't spill out.
- This is a stiff dough so a stand mixer is very handy to use, but you can still mix this dough with a handheld mixer. Add the room temperature butter to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, and on medium speed beat the butter until it is fluffy, about two minutes.
- Add the sugar, baking powder and salt; mix until combined
- At medium speed, mix in the egg, egg yolks, and vanilla until combined, scraping sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- At medium-low speed, mix in the flour until combined, forming a soft dough.
- Remove 3/4 cup of the dough to a small bowl and add the sifted powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and melted butter. Mix well to combine with a spoon.
- Add 1/4 tsp. of almond extract to the plain dough and stir with a wooden spoon to combine, or use the mixer.
- With a tablespoon, scoop out 30 pieces of plain dough and roll into balls, and with a teaspoon, measure out 30 pieces of the chocolate dough and roll into balls. (I normally get between 28 – 30 balls of each dough.)
- Flatten the almond-flavored dough balls and then place a chocolate dough ball in the center of the flattened dough then mold the dough around the chocolate dough ball to make a round ball.
- Roll the one big dough ball around in your hand until it is smooth and slightly tacky and immediately roll the dough ball into the nonpareil sprinkles then place on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 – 11 minutes at 375 degrees F. Remove the cookies from the oven and place them on a cooling rack.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
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Nutrition
First published Feb. 13, 2018, updated Dec. 20, 2024, for better readability.
Remember, cookies are for sharing, which means you can eat all the cookies except one!
Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog. Please leave a comment to say hello or tell me what you are baking; I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Do you have any questions or want to chat about the recipe? Please visit my About page for information, and I’ll be happy to help!
About Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
For those with a peanut allergy what could you use in place of the almond flavoring.
You can easily leave it out and just have a vanilla-flavored cookie; you could also add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla to bump up the vanilla flavor.
If you are making Christmas cookies you could also make the center-filling mint flavor like these St. Patrick’s Day cookies.
I used raspberry flavor for these Easter Cookies.
Both are the same recipe as the Christmas cookies, I just change the filling to be colored instead of using cocoa powder.
LorAnn’s Oils has a lot of great flavors and that is what I use.
Hope this helps!!!
Lovely cookies. I love the sprinkles and the filling. I’m going to add your recipe to my baking list. I think my son will like them.
These muse be Santa’s favorite cookies! They look so delicious and fun to make with the kids with the beautiful sprinkles.
I love surprises when they come in the shape of delicious food! These are so pretty too!
This is a great Christmas cookie recipe! I love your step-by-step instructions with pictures! So helpful!!
these are simply perfect my grandson will flip over these I will make them today! thanks for this recipe!