Christmas Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

Name: Christmas Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 ½ cups flour (313g); 1 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp baking soda; 1 pack vanilla pudding (3.4 oz); ½ tsp salt; 1 cup unsalted butter (softened (226 g)); 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar (250g); 1 large egg; 1 egg yolk; 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract; ½ tsp almond extract; ½ cup Christmas jimmies/ sprinkles (mine had red, white and green); ⅓ cup sugar to coat (approx.)

By Lorie Yarro

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Published Nov 13, 2026

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A box of vanilla pudding mix is the special ingredient that makes these Christmas sprinkle sugar cookies extra soft and chewy. These festive sprinkle-filled cookies require no chilling, have the perfect slightly crispy edges, and are the perfect holiday treat that kids and adults will love! The pudding makes these like no other sugar cookie you have ever tasted.

Why We Love These Christmas Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

These vanilla pudding Christmas sprinkle sugar cookies are the second recipe in our Pudding Perfect Holiday Series. If you missed the first recipe, make sure to check out these White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies, because WOW.

There are certainly thousands of Christmas sugar cookies out there, but these funfetti style cookies have a box of instant vanilla pudding to make them unlike any other sugar cookie!

These Christmas sprinkle sugar cookies:

are extra soft and chewy thanks to the added pudding mix
take the classic sugar cookie and give it a fun holiday twist
are very kid-friendly while also being a favorite among grown ups
easily freeze as baked cookies or cookie dough so you can do some prep when you have the time

Try these other Christmas recipe favorites: Christmas Shortbread Cookies, Christmas Puppy Chow, Ginger Cream Cookies, or these Christmas Golden Oreo Balls.

Ingredient Notes

Butter, flour, sugar and other ingredients labeled on surface for recipe.

Make sure to use instant pudding mix. The classic cook and serve pudding will not work in this sprinkle sugar cookie recipe. You are welcome to use the vanilla or French vanilla flavor in these cookies–the color of the cookies will be a bit more or less yellow depending on which you use.
This recipe uses one large and a large egg yolk. This give the cookies more chewiness and makes them a touch less cakey which is how we love them!
Not all sprinkles are created equal! Some will bleed a lot into these cookies, especially the naturally dyed. The best kind of sprinkles I have found are the jimmies that are colored all the way through, meaning they aren’t white in the center. I found a brand that seem to hold up pretty well called “Zestix” which I have linked below the recipe card.

Ways To Vary This Recipe

use a different flavor of pudding: you are welcome to use a white chocolate flavor or the cheesecake flavor instant pudding to change up the overall flavor of these cookies
change up the sprinkles: use any color you like for any occasion, holiday or your school colors even
add frosting or an icing glaze: feel free to use the icing glaze we use for these Iced Sugar Cookies or add a buttercream frosting like we use on these Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Flour and pudding mixture in bowl with whisk.

Step 1: Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pudding mix.

Creamed butter and sugar in bowl with hand mixer.

Step 2: In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. (This will take about 2-3 minutes.)

Egg, vanilla and almond extract added to butter mixture in bowl.

Step 3: Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix until combined.

Dry ingredients mixed into wet ingredients for vanilla pudding sugar cookies.

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients about a third at a time and beat only until incorporated.

Christmas sprinkle sugar cookie dough in bowl with spatula.

Step 5: Gently fold in the sprinkles. The cookie dough should not need to be chilled, but you can bake a test cookie and if it seems to spread too much, you can chill for about 30 minutes.

Cookie dough rolled into ball and dropped in sugar.

Step 6: Use a 1 ½ Tbsp cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough and roll into balls and then roll in sugar.

Rolled sprinkle Christmas sugar cookie dough on parchment.

Step 7: Bake in preheated oven on parchment lined baking sheet for 9-13 minutes, pulling them out when they are more on the just slightly underbaked side—edges are set, but not turning golden more than the a touch.

Baked Christmas sprinkle sugar cookies on pan.

Step 8: Scoot the cookies with a biscuit cutter if you like perfect circles and cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Recipe Tips

Make sure your butter is not too warm. Starting with butter that is too warm is a common mistake in baking cookies. Softened or room temperature butter will still have an internal temperature of about 65°F-67°F. If your butter is too warm in the creaming process, your cookies can end up flat and spread too much.

Do not use the cook and serve pudding mix. Only instant pudding works in these holiday sprinkle cookies. The cook and serve kind will not work!

Stack of holiday sugar cookies made with vanilla pudding mix.

Storage

Store these sprinkle sugar cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for about 4-5 days. They can be frozen once completely cooled in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.

You can also store the cookie dough in the freezer for up to 3 months. I prefer rolling the dough into balls before freezing.