4th of July Sprinkle Cookies With A Surprise Filling

How about adding some fun to your holiday celebrations with these awesome Fourth of July Sprinkle Cookies? They're soft and chewy, with a surprise filling and topped with red, white, and blue sprinkles that everyone loves!

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It's hot; it's summer, and it's time to have fun and be festive with these delicious red, white, and blue cookies. They are perfect for a patriotic treat on the Fourth of July, Memorial Day picnics, or anytime you like.

What's not to love with this sprinkle cookie recipe? They are tasty, colorful, easy to make, and super kid-friendly. Set them out on a big platter for a festive July party.

Jump to:

• There Is A Surprise Inside The Cookie
• Cookie Ingredients
• The sprinkles
• How To Make Sugar Cookies With Sprinkles: Step-By-Step
• Cookie Tip
• Want To Store For Later: Here's How
• More sprinkle cookie recipes
• Baking tips
• More patriotic desserts for you
• More Sprinkle Cookies To Make
• Recipe

There Is A Surprise Inside The Cookie

• The absolute best part of these cookies is the colorful inside filling, which surprises everyone when they bite into them.
• It takes just one extra step to get the colorful cookie layer inside.
• This recipe requires making a lot of cookie dough balls. It's easy to do!
• I made the center a vibrant red for these cookies and flavored it with almond flavoring.

Cookie Ingredients

These cookies have simple ingredients, are easy to make, and are always a favorite. Seriously, who doesn't like a cookie covered in sprinkles?

Making this cookie dough is a breeze using everyday baking essentials: all-purpose flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. These common pantry items combine to create a sensational base for your cookies and these extra ingredients.

• Unsalted butter - if you have salted butter, that will work too.
• Almond flavoring - this is used to flavor the red filling.
• Red food coloring - use red for the center filling; you could also use blue food coloring. I prefer to use gel food coloring for these cookies.
• Red, white & blue nonpareil sprinkles.

The sprinkles

There is quite an assortment of sprinkles available these days, but using these red, white, and blue nonpareil sprinkles works best for these cookies. They are just tiny sugar balls covering the cookie nicely and keep their color. Warning: They roll around a lot!

How To Make Sugar Cookies With Sprinkles: Step-By-Step

Making the dough

Step 1. Add the softened butter to a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. You can also use the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

Step 2. Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix on medium speed until combined

Step 3. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla and two egg yolks one at a time, and then add one whole egg and beat until combined.

Step 4. Add the flour to the bowl and mix on low until a soft dough forms.

Step 5. Remove ¾ cup of the dough and place it in a small bowl.  Mix in the ½ teaspoon of almond flavoring and a few drops of red food coloring with a spoon.

Making the dough balls

Step 6. With a tablespoon, measure out 25 balls of the plain butter dough and 25 balls of the red dough with a teaspoon. What happens if you only get 23 dough balls? You can make 23 or take some dough from the other balls to make the amount you need.

Step 7. First, place the nonpareil sprinkles in a big bowl or a large plate to roll the balls in.

Step 8. Place one plain dough ball in the palm of your hand, then press down on the ball to flatten it with your fingers.

Step 9. Take one red dough ball and place it on the flattened dough ball. Start forming the plain dough around the colored dough until it is totally covered. Roll the sugar cookie dough between your palms until it is nice and round.

Step 10. Immediately, roll the dough ball into the sprinkles until it is covered.  The dough must be sticky from rolling between your hands so the sprinkles will stick. Otherwise, the dough will be too dry, and the sprinkles will fall off.

Step 11. Place all the sprinkle-covered cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 375° F. for 10 minutes.

Step 12. Let the baked cookies cool on a wire rack, then eat and enjoy!

Decorating cookies with sprinkles adds so much color, and these cookies are so festive and make the perfect July 4th cookies and the almond-flavored red middle layer is such a fun surprise.

Baked and ready for your celebration, let the fireworks and cookie fun begin.

Want To Store For Later: Here's How

• Store the cookies in an air-tight container for several days.
• To freeze the cookies, bake them as directed, let them cool and then store them in a freezer container for three months. When ready, remove from the freezer and let thaw before eating.

More sprinkle cookie recipes

There is more to these cookies than just this red, white and blue batch.  These cookies can be made in lots of colors of nonpareil sprinkles, and you can change the color and flavors of the center.

Try these other fun and colorful sprinkle cookies

• The red, white, and green Christmas Sprinkle Cookies are pure holiday fun
• Bake these white and pink Valentine's Red Velvet Sprinkle Cookies to show how much you love someone.
• The Cassidy family celebrates anything Irish, and these St. Patrick's Day Mint Sprinkle Cookies have green and white sprinkles with a tangy, minty filling. 
• Covered in pastel sprinkles, these Raspberry Cookies look so pretty in Easter baskets.
• Celebrate with the ghosts and goblins with these Halloween Sugar Cookies.
• Do you have a favorite sports team? We always make these Orange and Black Cookies for the San Francisco Giants, our favorite team.

There are so many possibilities and endless colors of sprinkles, so mix and match for your special occasion. 

More patriotic desserts for you

• It's hard to celebrate July 4th without ice cream, am I right? Try this recipe for No-Churn Red, White & Blue Ice Cream Sundaes that is a real crowd-pleaser.
• Everyone loves how easy these 4th of July Sugar Cookie Bars are to make. And the creamy buttercream is pretty luscious. Don't forget some fun patriotic sprinkles.
• For more baking on the 4th of July, make these Patriotic Red, White, and Blue Thumbprint Cookies for the cutest, bite-sized frosted cookies.
• Kids and adults love these Red, White And Blue Jello Cups with three layers of jello and a cherry for a festive dessert.
• These Fourth Of July Cookies with M&Ms can be ready in under an hour and make a perfect snack for watching fireworks.

More Sprinkle Cookies To Make

Recipe

First published: July 06, 2020; last updated: May 13, 2024, for better readability.

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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.