OK, these are terrific. Seriously good cookies. Goooood. The cookies are pictured above in the box and ready to go, in a bigger box with other treats that I will blog about, and on the counter with some valentine treats. I dropped a box of assorted cookies to my friend Jodi and all she wrote back was “the sprinkle cookies”. She isn’t that verbose in text but this was the simplest compliment and it made me smile. I had to add “good, right?” just to get some more feedback and praise. So I urge you to try these! The beauty of this recipe is that you can roll them in sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, mini chips, toffee bits, really anything! Have some fun. II’m making more tomorrow so I’ll add some photos then.
This recipe comes from my newest favorite cookie book called 100 Cookies The Baking Book For Every Kitchen by Sarah Kieffer. And wow – I’ve made several of her recipes and I’m overwhelmed with the desire to bake the entire book. This section in her book is called “sheet-pan banging” cookies and it points to her method of making the cookies rippled and flat. My latest batch were the best looking but of course no photos. She instructs the baker to make large balls of dough and I know that would be great but so far I’ve only done medium. Tomorrow I’ll do large. You can also make them small cute and rippled (a bit).
Although this method can take longer it is fun and worth it. The bigger the cookie the less you can fit on one pan so be mindful of that. Sarah has snickerdoodles and molasses and all kind of sheet pan banging recipes to try. I like this sugar cookie one because of all the variations. I doubled the recipe and kept some dough in the fridge. You can then make more as you wish – but make sure the dough comes to room temp a bit so that the goodies will stick to it and the dough will spread.
Oh, and get out your kitchen scale as there are weighted measurements too which I love.
Enjoy-
Ingredients
- 2 Cups (284 grams) all- purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (diamond crystal is best)
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 227 grams) unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar (divided)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
Adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven and set at 350 degrees.
- Line the sheet pan(s) with parchment paper or tin foil (dull side up)
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.
- With the paddle attachment of stand mixer or with beaters, beat the softened butter on medium speed until creamy, about a minute or 2.
- Add 11/2 cups (300 g) of the sugar (don’t add it all as I did my first time through)
- Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients and beat on low until just combined. Remove from mixer and finish mixing by hand so that you don’t overmix
- If you want to add sprinkles or chips or other treat into the cookies you can do that now. Just don’t overdo it.
- Next roll the dough into 3 oz (85 g) balls. Again, you can do these smaller if you choose.
- Roll each ball into the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and the addition of your sprinkles, chips, flakes, etc.
- At this size (3 oz) place 4 balls on the cookie sheet. And bake one pan at a time. Again, I made smaller balls and was able to fit 9 on my pan. But tomorrow I’ll do the real thing.
- Bake for 8 minutes. Then lift one side of the sheet pan up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down against the oven rack so that the edges of the cookies set and the center falls back down. After the cookies puff up again in 2 minutes, repeat lifting and topping the pan. Repeat every 2 minutes to create ridges and ripples around the edge of the cookie. Some of my cookies weren’t really spreading so I took them out and kind of banged them on the counter – just a bit.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes in total, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown, but the centers are much lighter and not fully cooked.
- Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool for a bit – or, if you are lazy like me just on the counter.
- If the cookies are too dark or cooking too much remove from the pan after 10 minutes (and onto a wire rack) to continue to cool. Or just leave on pan too cool.
- Enjoy these babies!
