These Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies will be the most festive treat on your cookie tray! They’re easy to make and perfect for a party.

You can’t help but to get into the holiday spirit with these red & green Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies.

They’re festive, they’re bedazzled, and they’re downright delicious. Simply put, our Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies won’t stand a chance once you place the platter out in front of your guest.

Why You’ll Love Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies

Festive holiday cookie
Easy-to-find ingredients
Freezable
Makes large batches at once

I truly love how versatile cream cheese is. Used in vegetable dishes like Cream Cheese Corn, spread atop of toasted bagel, or added into a cookie blend for an irresistible chewy delight, cream cheese will always hold a special place in my heart.

In this Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies recipe, we use cream cheese in the cookie’s base. This mixed with the flour and baking soda give the cookie lightness and smooth whip appeal.

Unlike our Frosted Cream Cheese Cookies, which uses similar ingredients, it doesn’t fluff up and expands, which is a good thing for the amount of sprinkles we dump the cookies in.

How To Make Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies

Equipment

Stand mixer
Baking sheet
Parchment paper
Spatula
Mixing bowls
Spoons
Plastic or Saran wrap
Cooling rack

Instructions

For full instructions, please view the recipe card below.

Using a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy.
Next, add your flour, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Beat on high in 30-second intervals.
Fold in the vanilla bean paste, and once completely blended, cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove dough from the fridge, roll out into medium-sized dough balls, roll in a bowl of sprinkles and then bake for approximately 16 minutes.
Once done, transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

I’ve found that pre-making the dough and storing it in the freezer is one of the best decisions to make if your schedule is overstuffed.

There’s no flavor or softness loss by placing it in the freezer. Actually, there’s more flavor because the ingredients have had a chance to settle and infuse together, giving you a more decadent taste in each bite.

The only concern would be for the cream cheese because dairy-based products can be tricky to freeze.

However, if you take care during the blending process, you won’t have to worry about a breakdown in the cream cheese and avoid that disaster altogether.

Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies are perfect for potlucks, gifting, corporate events, and other holiday activities. And you won’t have to worry about the kids running away— unless, of course, they’re running away with the entire platter.

I think the 2 cups of powdered sugar has a lot to do with it as the sugary flavor is apparent once you get in range of their aroma.

Once you take that first soft chew, the flavors of vanilla bean and cream cheese envelope you — begging for you to eat a couple more. Hence why you might have to keep a close eye on your rambunctious crew after sitting the platter out.

Now, minus the cream cheese and butter, our Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies are plant-based friendly, and the times have changed so that there are hundreds of alternatives to suit your needs.

For the cream cheese, you can easily substitute this for Violife Vegan Cream Cheese or Daiya Dairy Free Plain Cream Cheese. However, be cautious with Daiya Cream Cheese as it gives more of a coconut taste as coconut oil is one of the main ingredients.

For the butter, options such as Earth Balance, Park Butter would work well and not overpower your cookies’ other flavorings.

And with all cookies, I recommend that you allow your butter to come to room temperature before placing it into the stand mixer bowl. The reasoning behind it is the processing or blending will be much easier than the blades trying to break down stiff butter globs on top of the flour, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.

Depending on the temperature in the kitchen, 10-20 minutes should be enough to get it to room temperature. If you’re pressed for time, you can take the butter and place it in the microwave for 3-5 second intervals until it becomes soft.

And you may not even need that much time. I recommend taking it out after every 5-second interval and checking if it has softened. Remember, you want it to soften- not melt completely- which is easy to do if attempting the microwave option.

When sending these off as gifts, consider boxing then wrapping inside a nice green or red ribbon. The Sprinkle Cream Cheese Cookies already stand out, so adding a touch of ribbon or sheer bows gives it a classy look.