The Buttery Soft Confetti Cookie Recipe I’ve Baked 20+ Times

At Kitchn, our editors develop and debut brand-new recipes on the site every single week. But at home, we also have our own tried-and-true dishes that we make over and over again — because quite simply? We love them. And we decided to start sharing some of our absolute favorites with you. Here’s a peek into what we’re cooking and eating in our own kitchens.

Homemade cookies are a regular occurrence at my house. Not just because I want to get my kids in the kitchen as much as possible, but also because I find most store-bought cookies overpriced or lacking in flavor (save for the occasional Oreo or obligatory Girl Scout cookie). But one particular cookie eluded me for a very long time: the sprinkle-covered, tender and buttery cookie that our local Publix handed out for free from the bakery counter.

A couple of years ago, though, I discovered a recipe for just those cookies that was fairly fuss-free (read: it didn’t require me to plan for softened butter ahead of time) and tasted just like the ones I loved at the store. Since finding this recipe, my at-home cookie baking has basically doubled.

There’s something just plain delightful about the appearance of sprinkle-coated cookies anywhere — in the cookie jar, at the deli, or even your local PTA bake sale. But the best versions of these cookies are intensely vanilla-scented, buttery, and borderline creamy in their softness.

If you think that any ol’ sugar cookie dough can be rolled in sprinkles and baked to the same effect, you’re absolutely wrong. A very specific combination of sugar, vanilla, butter, and cream cheese is required to produce these nostalgia-inducing cookies that will make your whole house smell like birthday cake.

The cream cheese, just a measly 2 ounces, is just enough to make these cookies balanced (not too sweet) and stay soft for days or in spite of occasionally over-baking them (these things happen when you bake with two small children). There always seems, at least in my kitchen, exactly this amount of cream cheese — leftover from weekend bagels or other recipes — lingering in the fridge, just waiting for me to bake these cookies on any given week.

Here’s the best bit about this particular recipe: You don’t have to soften the butter or the cream cheese for creaming these cookies with a stand mixer because the whole mixing process happens in a food processor instead! The mixing takes just a few minutes and maybe one or two swipes of the spatula inside the processor bowl between pulses to mix the dough.

Once mixed, my children and I work assembly line-style: I scoop the dough, my first-grader rolls the scoops and coats them in the sprinkles, and my 4-year-old has the immense pleasure of flattening each cookie with the heel of a cup. Which makes me wonder if the joy of these cookies is less in their sprinkle-coated brightness and more about the actual pleasure of baking them.

Either way, the cookies bake up tender-crisp; crispy, buttery edges gives way to a chewy then soft, creamy interior. Sure, confetti cookies have a cute and charming visual appeal, but their flavor and texture are absolutely their best feature.

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