Sugar Cookie Sparkles. Christmas cookie sparkles are classically soft sugar cookies rolled in sugar sprinkles. They're incredibly festive and you'll love the texture of the crunchy outside with the smooth inside! A classically soft sugar cookie rolled in sparkles, aka sanding sugar sprinkles.

I used red and green sanding sugar to make these festive Christmas cookies. Recipe adapted from : Sally's Cookie Addiction Cookbook. The trick to making great Rainbow Glitter Sugar Cookies is using high quality ingredients. You can have Sugar Cookie Sparkles using 10 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Sugar Cookie Sparkles

Prepare 3 cups of all purpose flour.
You need 1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder.
Prepare 1/2 tsp. of salt.
Prepare 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
Prepare 2 oz. of block style cream cheese, softened to room temperature.
You need 1 cup of granulated sugar.
It's 1 of large egg, at room temperature.
It's 2 tsp. of vanilla extract.
It's 1/2 tsp. of almond extract.
Prepare 3/4 cup of sanding sugar, any color you'd like.

Sugar cookies are such a simple cookie that quality will make all the difference. I recommend using a French or European Butter. If you want to go all out, using a handmade Vanilla Extract is nice too. With any cookies, the wet ingredients blend together.

Sugar Cookie Sparkles step by step

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or using a hand mixer beat the butter and cream cheese together on med-high speed until combined and smooth. Beat in the sugar until creamy, a minute or two. Then beat in the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract..
On low speed, slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat together until it's all combined and the dough comes together. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than 3 hours, let the dough sit out for 30 or so minutes to make it easier to work with..
Towards the end of chill time, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a few large baking trays with either parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Place the sanding sugar into small bowls..
Once the dough is done chilling, roll the dough into balls and roll the balls in the sanding sugar to coat them completely. Place the coated balls onto the baking trays about 1/2 an inch apart from the others (they really won't spread too much). Use the bottom of a dry measuring cup to gently press each ball down a bit..
Bake for 11-13 minutes, until very lightly browned around the bottom. Let them cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely..
Store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days..
Finished cookies are soft and chewy but the sugar coating gives a nice texture contrast..

Sanding Sugar: To give these cookies some sparkle, roll them in colored sugar before baking. There are two types of colored sugars commonly found: sanding and coarse. Sanding sugar is similar in texture to granulated sugar, perhaps a bit finer. Where coarse sugar is larger and adds a nice crunch to the cookies. These cute and easy holiday almond cookies sparkle like freshly fallen snow!