Amazing 1-step Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

Oh my goodness, are you ready for the easiest, most cheerful cookies you’ll make all season? Look, I love a beautiful, perfectly frosted cutout cookie, but when it comes down to the wire on Christmas Eve, I absolutely rely on my secret weapon: the slice and bake method. These **Christmas Sprinkle Slice and Bake Cookies** are my absolute go-to. They look like I spent hours decorating, but really, the magic happens by rolling the dough into a log and just slicing it! It’s the sheer convenience during that crazy holiday rush that makes this recipe a lifesaver for me every single year. Trust me, once you try this log-and-slice technique, you’re never going back.

Why This Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies Recipe Saves Your Holidays

This recipe isn’t just another cookie; it’s a holiday survival tool! When you’re juggling everything from wrapping presents to cooking big dinners, you need baking that works *for* you, not against you. These **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** are exactly that lifeline. They give you maximum festive cheer with minimal last-minute fuss.

• Effortless Prep for Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies: Forget the rolling pin mayhem! There are no cookie cutters, no fiddly details, and no complex shaping needed for these **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies**. Just mix, roll a log, and chill. It’s that simple.
• Make-Ahead Convenience: This is where the magic really happens. You can wrap that dough log tight and tuck it away in the fridge for days or even freeze it for weeks. Pull it out when guests unexpectedly drop by, and you’ve got fresh cookies ready in minutes.
• Festive Look with Minimal Decoration: Honestly, who has the time for royal icing piping right before Santa shows up? We load up the dough with colorful Christmas sprinkles, so the cookies look completely dressed up straight out of the oven—no frosting required!

If you want to level up your baking game while saving time, you really need to check out some great general tips over here: baking tips to make you a better baker.

Gathering Ingredients for Your Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

When it comes to these super simple **Christmas Sprinkle Slice and Bake Cookies**, don’t try to cheat the ingredients—they truly are the stars here. Because we aren’t doing much mixing after the wet and dry come together, the quality and state of what you use really matters for texture. It’s all pretty standard pantry stuff, which is another win for the holidays!

If you ever need substitutions for things like dairy, though, I have some great ideas over here on buttermilk substitutions, though thankfully we don’t need buttermilk in this recipe!

Ingredient Specifications and Clarity

Here is exactly what you need to pull together your dough:

• Butter? It absolutely has to be softened—room temperature soft, so it mixes nicely with the sugar, but definitely not melted or greasy. That’s crucial for the creaming step.
• Egg: Just one, and make sure it’s a standard large egg.
• Flour: Stick with all-purpose flour. We won’t be using cake flour here!
• The fun part: You need a half cup of Christmas sprinkles. I usually grab a festive mix of red, green, and white jimmies, but honestly, any holiday assortment that sparkles works great for these cookies.
• We need 3/4 cup of regular granulated sugar, and remember to grab a touch of baking powder for a little lift!

Step-by-Step Instructions for Perfect Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

Okay, now for the fun part! We’re taking these simple ingredients and turning them into holiday magic. The beauty of the slice-and-bake method is that the mixing order is super important, especially when we want these **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** to bake up perfectly uniform and tender. Don’t rush this part—it sets the whole cookie up for success!

Mixing the Dough for Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

First things first, you absolutely must cream that softened butter with your granulated sugar. Beat them together really well until they look light and fluffy—you’re whipping air into them, so don’t stop too soon! Once that’s looking great, mix in your egg and vanilla. Set that wet mixture aside.

In a separate bowl—this is important!—whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt. Now, add those dry ingredients to the wet mixture gradually. I mean gradually! We only want to mix until the flour streaks disappear. Seriously, stop mixing right when it just comes together. Overmixing at this stage is how you get tough, hockey-puck cookies, and we don’t want that!

Once it’s *just* combined, toss in those festive Christmas sprinkles and give it a quick fold. You want them distributed everywhere, but again, don’t overwork that dough!

Shaping and Chilling the Log

This is the crucial step that makes them “slice and bake!” Dump your dough out onto some plastic wrap. You need to shape it into a nice, even log, about an inch and a half in diameter all the way across. Wrap that log up tightly, making sure it’s nice and symmetrical. It needs to chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of two hours. I usually make mine the day before! Chilling is non-negotiable; it solidifies the fat so the cookies hold their shape when they hit the heat.

Slicing and Baking Your Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

Once chilled solid, it’s time for the oven! Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit—that’s 190 Celsius for my metric friends. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper; this prevents sticking, and trust me, you want them easy to lift off. Take the dough log out and slice it into rounds that are about 1/4 inch thick. Lay them on the prepared sheets about one inch apart because they will spread just a little bit.

Bake them for about 8 to 10 minutes. They’re done when you see the edges just starting to look lightly golden. Let them hang out on the warm sheet for about five minutes before you gently move them to a wire rack to cool completely. That little rest helps them firm up before you pile them high!

If you want more handy advice on technique, make sure you look at that guide on baking tips to make you a better baker—it applies beautifully to cookies too!

Expert Tips for the Best Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

You’ve mixed, you’ve chilled, and now you’re slicing—this is where you can really push these **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** from simple to spectacular. Even with an easy recipe, small adjustments make a huge difference in how they look on the platter. I learned these tricks the hard way over years of frantic holiday baking, so pay attention!

Don’t forget, if you want the absolute best results every single time, checking out that general guide on baking tips to make you a better baker can really help solidify your general baking confidence!

Achieving Uniform Slices

This is my favorite little secret when getting those perfect circles. If you pull that log straight out of the fridge and immediately try to slice it, you end up squishing the beautiful log shape we worked so hard to create! Oops! Instead, just let the dough sit out on the counter for maybe five minutes—just until it loses that rock-hard stiffness.

It should feel slightly pliable when you press it gently, but still very firm. That little bit of softening makes the knife glide right through, giving you those beautiful, perfectly round **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** without crushing the colorful sprinkles embedded inside.

Controlling Cookie Spread

The biggest look disaster is when your round slice turns into a flat puddle on your baking sheet. That’s usually a temperature issue with the fat in the dough. We need that butter to be firm enough to hold the shape when it hits the heat of a 375-degree oven.

So, when you’re creaming that butter and sugar at the beginning, remember my expert tip: the butter should be soft enough to easily press a finger into, but it should still feel cool to the touch. If your kitchen is warm or your butter feels greasy at all, pop the dough log in the freezer for 10 extra minutes before the two-hour chill. A colder starting point means less spreading for your gorgeous **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies**.

Storage and Freezing Instructions for Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

One of the greatest things about making **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** is that you don’t have to eat them all right away! They’re already in a perfect, shelf-stable slice, which makes storage so easy. You’ve done all the hard work creating the dough log, so let’s make sure that effort lasts you through the whole holiday season.

For the baked cookies, just let them cool completely—and I mean completely—on the wire rack. Warm cookies steam when you put them in a container, and that’s a recipe for soft, sticky tops. Once they are fully cool, pop them into a good airtight container. I usually layer them with a small piece of wax paper between layers just to make sure they don’t stick together, especially since the sprinkles can get a little tacky. Stored this way at room temperature, they stay perfectly delicious for about a week!

Now, let’s talk about freezing the dough log, because this is the real hero move. If you wrapped that raw log tightly in plastic wrap like I told you to, it’s ready for the deep freeze up to three whole months! Pop it right into a freezer bag to protect it from any freezer burn smells. When you wake up one morning and realize you need fresh **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** for an impromptu cookie exchange in an hour? No problem!

Just pull that log out, unwrap it, and slice them straight from frozen. Because they start out much colder than room temperature dough, you just add one or two extra minutes to the baking time I gave you. Usually, 10 or 11 minutes does the trick. It seriously feels like cheating when you pull perfect, festive cookies out of the oven with almost no effort!

Equipment Needed for This Recipe

You don’t need a bakery’s worth of gadgets for these **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies**, thankfully! A lot of this is just standard stuff you already have lying around, which keeps the cleanup easy. Having the right tools handy just makes that chilling and slicing process so much smoother. You won’t need any fancy molds or special cookie cutters, which is the best part!

Here is the short list of what you should grab before you start whipping that butter:

• An electric mixer—handheld or stand mixer works fine. This is for properly creaming your butter and sugar.
• Plastic wrap. Seriously, you need good, strong plastic wrap to get that dough log rolled tightly and evenly.
• Two sturdy baking sheets. You’ll have to bake in batches unless you have huge sheet pans!
• Parchment paper. Do not skip this! This is what guarantees your cookies lift right off the pan after baking.
• A sharp knife. This is for thinly slicing those chilled logs. Make sure the blade is clean and smooth!
• A large mixing bowl for the wet ingredients and a medium bowl for the dry ones.

Variations on the Classic Slice and Bake Cookie

You know, while these **Christmas Sprinkle Slice and Bake Cookies** are perfect just the way they are, sometimes you want to shake things up a little bit, right? Maybe you’re out of your favorite jimmies, or perhaps you just want to sneak in a little extra warmth for that classic holiday flavor. The great news is that this base recipe is so sturdy because of the chilling process, it takes variations like a champ! It’s a fantastic canvas for small recipe tweaks.

If you are thinking about adding other flavors, check out some of my favorite twists on spiced cookies—I cover some killer chocolate and orange combos over here: chocolate orange cookies for inspiration!

Here are a couple of simple swaps you can make without messing up that beautiful log shape:

• Nutty Crunch: If you’re not worried about allergies, try swapping out a quarter cup of those Christmas sprinkles for finely chopped nuts! Pecans or walnuts work beautifully here. Just make sure they are chopped small so they don’t make the log too hard to slice later on.
• Spice It Up: The original recipe is pretty straightforward, but you can easily deepen that buttery flavor by adding just a tiny pinch—like 1/4 teaspoon—of ground nutmeg or even some allspice along with your flour. It really brings out a cozy aroma when they bake!
• Extract Switch: Vanilla is great, but if you want something a little more sophisticated for a grown-up cookie plate, try cutting the vanilla extract in half and replacing the other half with almond extract. It gives the cookie a subtle, almost marzipan-like flavor that pairs surprisingly well with the vanilla and butter. Don’t go overboard with almond, though; it can become very strong very fast!

Remember, any addition you make—whether it’s nuts or spices—should be mixed in right when you add the sprinkles, before that crucial chilling time. That way, everything gets distributed evenly throughout the dough log!

Frequently Asked Questions About Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies

I get so many questions about these little gems, especially during the rush of holiday baking! Everyone wants that perfect, sliceable log that delivers maximum festive punch. If you’re wondering about something specific concerning your **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies**, chances are someone else has already asked it. Here are the biggest things I hear from folks making this recipe for the first time!

If you are currently decorating frosted sugar cookies and realize you need a backup plan, these are perfect. Thinking about making them? You can find some great inspiration here: soft batch frosted sugar cookies.

Can I use sanding sugar instead of jimmies for these cookies?

Oh, absolutely! I generally use jimmies because they are just so colorful and fun, but sanding sugar works great too. Sanding sugar gives you a bit of a crunchier texture, which I personally love—it adds a nice little snap to the otherwise tender sugar cookie base. Whichever sprinkle or sugar you choose, just make sure you mix it in really gently but completely before you wrap up that dough log for chilling. You want those pretty crystals totally encased in the dough!

How do I prevent my Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies from spreading too thin?

This is the number one issue people run into, and honestly, it all comes back to temperature. The most important thing you can do for perfect, round **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** is ensure that dough log is rock solid before slicing and baking. If it’s soft, the butter melts too quickly. So, if you notice them spreading, double-check that chilling time—at least two hours is the minimum! Also, make sure your baking powder is fresh. Old leavening agents give you weird textures; if it’s past its prime, the cookies might not set up right!

What is the best way to store leftover baked cookies?

Once they are baked and cooled down—and you have to let them cool totally, okay?—store your **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** in an airtight container. Keep that container right there on your counter at room temperature for up to a week. I know someone who keeps theirs in the fridge, but please don’t! Refrigeration tends to dry out sugar cookies faster than you’d think. Room temperature and airtight is the way to go for maximum freshness!

Nutritional Estimates for Your Holiday Treat

Okay, so these **Christmas Sprinkle Slice Bake Cookies** are pure holiday joy, and while we’re not counting every single calorie when celebrating, it’s good to have a baseline idea of what we’re enjoying, right? I pulled the numbers straight from the recipe card, but I have to tell you, these are just friendly estimates!

If you use fancy European butter or a different brand of sprinkles than what I used, things shift just a tiny bit! These numbers reflect just one standard slice—and goodness knows, they are easy to eat more than one when they are fresh!

• Serving Size: 1 cookie (Yields about 3 dozen!)
• Calories: About 120 per cookie
• Fat: Around 6 grams (This includes that delicious butter!)
• Carbohydrates: Roughly 15 grams
• Sugar: About 8 grams of delicious sweetness
• Protein: Just hanging out near 1.5 grams

Remember, since this recipe is based on basic pantry staples, the fat content is mostly from that softened butter we creamed so carefully. It’s worth every bite for the texture, trust me. I always say, enjoy them, and don’t worry too much about the exact numbers during festive baking!

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