My soft, chewy, buttery, and sprinkle-packed Funfetti Cookies are made completely from scratch–no box cake mix required! This recipe can be prepped without a mixer in just 20 minutes. Recipe includes a how-to video!
100% From-Scratch Funfetti Cookies
Like a funfetti cake in cookie form, my soft, chewy funfetti cookies are perfectly sweet and loaded with colorful sprinkles. They’re simple (sort of like drop sugar cookies) and so much fun to make! The sprinkles add a surprisingly addictive texture and lots of color, and the buttery, vanilla flavor comes 100% from scratch. You won’t even miss the cake mix!
My favorite thing about these funfetti cookies (besides the sprinkles!) is that they come together without a mixer. Using melted butter makes it easy to mix everything by hand and replaces the traditional creaming step. Of course, this means you will need to chill your cookie dough before scooping and baking–but they’re worth the wait!
Important Tips for Perfect Cookies:
- Make sure the butter isn’t too warm before adding the sugar. Butter that’s too warm will melt the sugar, leaving you with a greasy cookie dough and cookies that spread far too much.
- Let the dough chill! 30 minutes is the bare minimum, but 60 minutes is even better.
- Roll your cookie dough before placing it on the baking sheet for more uniform, round cookies.
- Remove the cookies from the oven while they still look slightly underdone. They’ll finish baking on the hot cookie sheet as they cool, leaving you with perfectly chewy funfetti cookies. Over-baking makes cookies that are tough, dry, and too-crisp, as opposed to soft, buttery, and chewy!
What You Need
This recipe uses pantry staples to make super buttery and soft funfetti cookies. Here are a few of the most important ones you’ll need:
- Melted butter. Using melted butter ensures the cookies stay soft and chewy instead of cakey. It also gives them an incredible flavor (even better flavor if you use European butter!). I like to let my butter cool for about 10-15 minutes after melting to ensure that it’s no longer warm to the touch.
- Vanilla. A hefty pour of vanilla provides that cake mix flavor without all the additives. For even better flavor, use homemade vanilla extract!
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch helps these funfetti cookies hold their shape and stay soft. I use this in my funfetti Christmas cookies too, as well as many of my other cookie recipes. It’s one of my favorite secret ingredients!
- Sprinkles. Pretty much any kind will do–I use a mix of different types for a fun and whimsical look.
SAM’S TIP: Use unsalted butter! I have a separate post on why I like to use unsalted vs. salted butter, so I’ll be brief here, but essentially, you can better control the flavor of your cookies by adding the salt separately. It’s hard to know exactly how much salt is in each stick of salted butter (especially since there’s so many brands!), so using unsalted butter allows for precise and consistent results.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Funfetti Cookies
- Stir together the cooled melted butter and sugars.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Stir in the sprinkles, then cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge.
- Scoop chilled dough and roll into smooth balls before placing them onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, then let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: Don’t add all of your dry ingredients at once! If you do, you could end up with a dry, crumbly dough. Adding the flour gradually allows it to absorb properly and makes your dough much easier to work with.
Frequently Asked Questions
Funfetti simply refers to the well-loved boxed cake mix that’s loaded with colorful sprinkles. The final product has a buttery, vanilla flavor and lots of colorful sprinkles throughout, just like these funfetti cookies! You could also call these confetti cookies! I actually incorporate funfetti cake mix in a few of my recipes, like my funfetti cheesecake squares.
Yes! This is the only (very minor) downside to using melted butter, but it’s SO important. Chilling helps the flavor develop and prevents the funfetti cookies from spreading too much on the baking sheet.
It sounds like you may have accidentally over-measured your flour or over-baked your cookies. Remember to pull your cookies out when they still look a bit underdone, since they’ll finish cooking on the baking sheet. If you let your cookies bake completely in the oven, they’ll end up over-baked after cooling. I know it seems weird, I found this is the best way to get soft and chewy funfetti cookies.
I hope you have as much fun making (and eating!) these as I did!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Funfetti Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch
- 1 ⅔ cup (333 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- ⅓ cup sprinkles nonpareils, quins, jimmies, or a mix
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine melted, cooled butter with sugar and stir until combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ⅔ cup (333 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract, stir well.2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until thoroughly combined.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon table salt
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until completely combined.
- Stir in sprinkles until well-distributed through the dough.⅓ cup sprinkles
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 5 days (dough chilled longer than a few hours may need to sit at room temperature for a bit to become soft enough to scoop easily).
- When nearly ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop dough by rounded 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoops and drop onto baking sheet (or roll the dough into smooth balls between your palms for rounder, more uniform cookies) spacing cookies at least 2” (5cm) apart.
- Transfer baking sheet to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Cookies may look slightly underdone when they come out of the oven, this is fine and makes them nice and chewy as they continue to cook on the baking sheet as they cool. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet before removing as they’re fragile when warm!
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Wadia
Hi! First time I make this cookies and omg I love them!!!
Can I ask something, when making the whole amount can I save half of the mix and freeze it? Then I will just use it later, after thawing it at room temperature?
Thanks so much!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you loved them, Wadia! The cookie dough freezes well. I reccomend thawing it in the refrigerator or you can bake the frozen dough as needed. Enjoy! 🙂
Wadia
Awesome! Thanks for replying so fast!
Ailene
Hi! Found this recipe & wanted to comment that we successfully used Bob’s gluten free AP 1:1 flour in place of regular flour, and arrowroot starch in place of corn starch and they turned out amazing! Thank you for the recipe!
Sam
Thank you so much for the feedback, Ailene! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much. 🙂
Rhi
Hi, I don’t have any baking soda, only baking powder. Will this be sufficient?
Sam
Hi Rhi! It may be ok to leave out the baking soda here. Baking powder isn’t quite the same thing. Your cookies may not spread as much when baking without the baking soda, but they should still taste good. 🙂
Rhi
Thank you!😃
grace
can i use non stick spray instead of parchment paper ?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Grace! You can, however, if you are using a non-stick baking sheet you can bake them directly on there. The parchment paper is used to help with placement and for easy clean-up. If you spray, I would do so lightly. I hope that you enjoy the cookies. 🙂
Penny
These are so amazing! Thank you for sharing!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Penny! I am glad that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Patricia
Hi Sam. Just completed baking my cookies. They so pretty in color. Just love all your recipes. My cookies are soft, & chewy . Its just a perfect shape cookie. Thanks alot.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your cookies turned out perfectly and that you enjoyed them, Patricia! Thank you so much for trying another recipe of mine. 🙂
Amy
Can I use salted butter and cut the tsp of salt in half? These look so yummy, I can’t wait to try some of your recipes!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Amy! Yes, that will be fine! Enjoy! 🙂
Bianca
What a great recipe! Easy to follow and the results are delicious and pretty!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the funfetti cookies, Bianca! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Ebbi
These cookies are delicious and have some serious staying power! I considered myself a decent baker but these funfetti cookies blew my old recipe away. This site is now my favorite for trying new recipes…great job and thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Ebbi! I am so glad that the funfetti cookies blew you away! I can’t wait to see what you try next! 🙂
Julia
I made these cookies for Christmas this year with green and red sprinkles/nonpareils. I love baking Christmas cookies and try to have a lot of variety, but this year I might as well have only baked your funfetti cookies… they were such a hit!!! They’re the perfect amount of chewiness and packed with so much flavour!! Delicious!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Julia! I am so glad that they were such a hit! 🙂
Liz
Just made these and the family loves them- great texture and flavor.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your family enjoyed them, Liz! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Rosemary Knight
Great Recipe, can’t wait to try it!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you, Rosemary! I hope that you enjoy them. Let me know how they turn out. 🙂
?
what are colored nonpareils?
I just wanted simple cookies.
Sam
Colored nonpareils are a type of sprinkle. You can certainly leave the sprinkles out, but then they wouldn’t be funfetti cookies. 🙂
MYOB
Why are they so fancy
Sam
I don’t think they’re fancy, your grocery store should carry them in the baking aisle. You could also just use regular colored sprinkles/jimmies instead.
Stephie scat
Love these ! Can you tell me which rainbow sprinkles you used ? Where purchased? Love the colors ! Thanks
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the funfetti cookies, Stephanie! Often, to achieve colors I am after, I make my own sprinkles. Here is a recipe to do that. Wilton or Betty Crocker usually have nonpareils sprinkles as well that are bright in color. Enjoy! 🙂
Stephie Scat
Thank you for responding. Can’t wait to try making my own sprinkles. 😀
Sugar Spun Run
Awesome! I hope you enjoy it! Have fun! 🙂
Mary Calabrese
Hi this recipe looks great but do you absolutely need the corn starch? Is it necessary?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Mary! I recommend it. Cornstarch used in combination with flour can “soften” the harsh proteins of flour, making a more tender baked good, in this case a “Soft and Chewy” cookie. I hope that you enjoy the Funfetti Cookies. 🙂