Well hello there! Happy February! I realized that it’s been 10 years of blogging here on Sweetopia, this past February 9th, and I’ve yet to share birthday theme cookies, so here they are! I’m also sharing an easy twist on my sugar cookies – sprinkly, colorful confetti cookies.
You can use any sprinkles you like but I knew immediately when I saw them, that I wanted to try these shimmer confetti. Colorful and round, they held their shape nicely when mixed into the dough and baked. You can find the recipe below. (This post is not sponsored, but any Amazon link is an affiliate link. No extra cost to you). I should mention that I only thought of making the confetti cut out cookies after I’d already made the birthday theme cookies, so only the circular undecorated cookies pictured in this post are the confetti cookies. They’re in the freezer, ready to use for another batch of cookie decorating.
And to you, thank you so so much for visiting me here and following the blog. I thank you for all the sweet comments, social media shares and even if you’ve never left a comment anywhere, thank you for dropping by! And Mom, thank you for commenting on every single blog post since I’ve begun. 10 years! Sniff. God has blessed me with such a wonderful and supportive mother! xo
Thank you to Honey & Lou Baking Co. for inspiration for the round cookies with the #10 sprinkles!
If you’d like to know what recipes and tools I used for these birthday cookies, all the information is shared below.
Please feel free to drop me a line here if you have any questions! Happy decorating!
Decorating Cookies with Royal Icing
Find the cookie cutters I used here by clicking on each individual cutter below:
Cookie Cutters:
- Birthday Hat
- Candle
- Piping Bag
- Mixer Bowl
- Sundae
- Ice Cream Cone 1
- Ice Cream Cone with Cherry
- Cake Slice – hand cut
- Big Round Balloon
- Skinny Balloons
- Heart
- Mini Candy
- Number 1
- Number 0
- Round Scallopped Cutter
Confetti Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Confetti Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup confetti sprinkles *you can add more or less if you like
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low to medium speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated - for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
- Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again. Add vanilla extract. Stir briefly.
- Sift your dry ingredients together. (Flour and salt). Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Place a large tea towel between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won't escape. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Remove the tea towels and observe the dough mixing; when it starts to come together add the confetti sprinkles and mix until the dough clumps around the paddle attachment. The dough should peel away from the sides of the mixer and clump around the paddle attachment. You can also test the dough by pinching it between your thumb and index finger. If it’s soft but not sticky, it’s just right. If it’s too sticky when you pinch it between your fingers, add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and mix until you’re happy with the texture. There are various reasons why a dough can be too dry or too sticky, ranging from humidity in the environment, to what kind of flour you use, the fat content of the butter etc., however, there are ways to fix the issues if you run into them. Already mentioned, add flour if your dough is too sticky, and if it’s too dry, make sure you’ve mixed it as best as you can first, and if it’s still too dry, add a little water or milk until your dough comes together.
- Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat. If your dough gets too soft to work with, place in the fridge or freezer periodically to firm up again.
- Once all cut out, put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F or 176°C.
- Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
- Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate if you like!
Notes
Royal Icing Recipe
The royal icing recipe can be found here.
Decorating Items
What you’ll need:
- Piping Tips – PME #1.5, PME #2 and PME #3
- Piping Bags
- Couplers
- Gel paste colors
- Scribe Tool or Toothpicks
- Gold Luster Dust
- White Sanding Sugar
- Number 1 Confetti
- Pastel Sprinkles
- Rainbow Confetti Sprinkles
- Bon Bon Confetti
- Confetti Stars
- Cookie Pop Sticks
Cookie Decorating Basics
This video on outlining and flooding is a good place to start if you’re new to decorating cookies with royal icing. These cookie decorating basics YouTube videos may also be helpful to get you started.
Royal Icing Consistency
The consistency of icing is key for easy decorating. Click here to see a YouTube video on finding the right icing thickness for basic flooding and decorating.
If you’re fairly new at decorating cookies, you may find these Royal Icing Tips here, helpful.
Again, please feel free to comment below. I also have a FAQ section here and a glossary of terms here.
Happy decorating!
xo,
Marian
These are so cute! I will try these for my daughter’s birthday treats to send to school. They should travel better than cupcakes.
Thanks Scarlet, and have fun decorating them!
Beautiful. Your cookies are so so beautiful !! You have found your calling!
Thank you so much, Sherry! Kind of you!
What a great set! The addition of sprinkles to the dough is a fun touch.
Thanks so much for the comment Sara!
Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!
And thanks for regularly visiting me here Barb!
Noticed an error in recipe: “….add the crushed candy cane and mix…” Is this meant to be on the ingredient list?
Apart from this, the decorated cookies and photo styling are impeccable and most appealing!! Love your artistry!
Thanks so much for noticing, Robin! I originally just adapted my crushed candy cane sugar cookie recipe to make this one, and missed a few edits. All fixed now. Thanks for your compliments as well!
Congratulations on 10 years Marian!!!! What I love so much about your posts are I learn something every single time and get such inspiration from your delightful designs! Thank you so very much for 10 years of Roos, recipes, inspiration and gorgeous cookies and cupcakes!!! Much love ❤️
Aww, thanks Tina! And thanks for visiting me here for such a long time as well! xo
Marian,
my favorite colors in one post!! Congratulations on 10 years of Sweetopia. I am beyond proud of you! God gave you an amazing gift to share with others.
These cookies are so cute and probably make all of us look forward to summer haha…thank you!
Much love,
niner
Hi Niner,
Thank you as well for being with me so long, and commenting on almost every blog post as well! I’m grateful for you and blessed by you! Much love! xxoo
I so didn’t realize you did sprinkles in the cookies. I have been dying to try this but didn’t like all the recipes that used cake mixes! Gotta try these when my new mixer comes!!
Hi Jo-Ann,
Have fun with it! xo
p.s. I mention it in the blog post, but I only thought of making sprinkle confetti cookies once the birthday shapes were already made, so only the circle cookies picture are confetti cookies.
I always love looking at your immaculate biscuits!! I’m missing doing my decorating – am currently working in a school – but might just get my piping bags out again! Thank-you xx
Hi Kate,
Yes it can be challenging to juggle, have fun decorating! xo
Your posts ALWAYS inspire me. Thank you so much for the time you spend so we can learn from you.
Hi Esther,
Thank YOU for your comments, you encourage me! xo
BTW Marion, I have a few questions. Is the “Chocolate” topping on the ice cream cones and the ruffled icing on the cake slice, Royal Icing? It looks like buttercream but that will not harden right? How did you get the special effect in the balloon and mixing bowl icings? Happy Tenth!
Yes, the chocolate is royal icing… I made it a bit too thick so it didn’t settle as nicely as I would have liked. The cake slice edges are royal icing too. They do dry a bit hard but I didn’t want to make it with buttercream because I wanted to put them in cellophane bags and the buttercream doesn’t do too well packed up like that.
For the balloon, do you mean the gold splatters and for the mixing bowl do you mean the white spots? If yes, for the gold I did the same as these wreaths here https://sweetopia.net/2019/01/video-how-to-decorate-valentine-cookies-swan-wreath-and-dress-cookies/ (shown in the video). It’s gold luster dust mixed with raspberry vodka.
For the bowl, it’s the same technique as I used in the pie cookies; https://sweetopia.net/2013/10/decorated-cherry-pie-cookies/ Hope that helps!
Love the ice cream cone icing and sprinkles. Great photos! Congratulations on a 10 year blog
Thanks so much Jo Ann, much appreciated!!
Hi Marian,we got the Internet back!!!!
Congratulations to your 10 years bloging! Beautiful work every time you do something! Love your 10th Birthday design cookies! Hope I will get to taste them!❤
ML
Maria (Mom) 🙂
Thank you so much for always being there for me, blog and otherwise! I love you! xo
Congratulations on 10 years! I always enjoy seeing your recipes and creations! Question for you- I recently made some cookies and decorated them using royal icing. They did not dry shiny and bright. Instead, they almost had a dull flecked look to them. Any idea on what I may have done wrong? Thank you for any suggestions!
Lisa
Thanks Lisa!
I do wish cookies decorated with royal icing would keep that beautiful, glossy sheen as when the icing is wet, but they do dry matte. I did do a post on options to add a little bit of shine, which you can find here (near bottom half of this post):
https://sweetopia.net/2011/11/gluten-free-coconut-cupcakes-with-coconut-frosting-shiny-royal-icing/
As for the flecks, I’m not exactly sure what you mean without seeing a photo, but these posts might be helpful;
https://sweetopia.net/2011/07/how-to-avoid-spots-on-icing/
https://sweetopia.net/2009/10/how-to-prevent-your-icing-from-bleeding-7-tips/
https://sweetopia.net/2010/12/10-keys-to-cookie-decorating-success-or-10-mistakes-to-avoid/
HELLO THERE MARIAN,
I AM WANTING TO MAKE 5 COOKIES WITH THIS RECIPE SO I AM
WONDERING IF YOU THINK THE RECIPE WOULD STILL
WORK AND ALSO IF I SPLIT UP THE RECIPE SHOULD I JUST
SPLIT IT IN 5?
Hi Jacqueline,
I have never split it in 5, I’m not sure the recipe would work. I have split it in half, which works. You could freeze the extra dough.
Hi! I came across your blog post while planning to make some birthday cookies. I had a question. What type of technique did you use to make the once cream on the cookies look “drippy?” I’m a beginner, so I’m just learning. Thank you!
Hi Airon,
I just used royal icing that is a bit thick (so it stays puffy). It’s a medium thick consistency or 18 second icing. Here’s a video which may help you; https://sweetopia.net/2011/02/video-royal-icing-consistency-made-easy-the-10-second-rule/
Have fun and let me know if you have more questions, happy to help!
How beautiful! How many grams is a cup equivalent to in your recipe?
Thanks Ana! I have a measurements equivalent printable in the sidebar.
I am new to your blog and found my new go-to site for recipes and instructions, you’re so incredibly talented that I am nothing short of inspired.
I just used this recipe and made 40 Easter egg cookies, they look and taste amazing, but my tips are bumpy and rough after baking. Yours look so smooth, could I be doing something different?
I meant tops 😉
Hi Kristin,
Thanks! Without seeing them I’m guessing, but maybe the dough was over mixed a bit. If you like, you can DM me a photo on Instagram so I can have a better idea.
Hello, cookies look so cute and sweet. But is there any video lessons, it would be quite easy.
Love these cookies! I clicked on the link for the sundae cookie cutter and don’t see one that looks like your cookie. Can you help? You are so talented.
Hi Angie,
It may be sold out by now, sorry!