Christmas sprinkle pudding cookies are soft, chewy, and easy to make in under 30 minutes with no chill time. A tasty and easy Christmas sprinkle cookie recipe for your Christmas party.
The instant vanilla pudding mix in the cookie dough gives these Christmas cookies a rich vanilla flavor and incredible softness that will make them the hit of any cookie exchange.
This recipe will make about 60 cookies, making it perfect for a crowd.
However, if you prefer a variety of cookies you can use this same pudding cookie dough to make 4 different varieties of Christmas cookies: jam thumbprint cookies, soft frosted Christmas cookies, hidden kiss cookies, and these yummy sprinkle cookies.
Ingredients
This section includes ingredient notes and substitution options. Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
You will need:
- Butter & shortening – I like to use a combo of unsalted butter and shortening for this recipe.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract – Use 100% pure vanilla extract for best taste.
- All-purpose flour
- Vanilla pudding mix – A 3.4 ounce box of instant vanilla pudding mix. Make sure you don’t grab cook & serve pudding my mistake, it is not the same and won’t work for this recipe.
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Christmas sprinkles – We used a red, green, and white sprinkle mix like this one, but you can use any color that you prefer.
How to Make
This section shows you how to make the recipe with step-by-step photos and instructions. For the full printable recipe, see the recipe card below.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set them aside.
Step 2: Using a stand mixer or hand mixer and large bowl, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes).
Step 3: Beat in eggs, vanilla, and instant pudding mix.
Step 4: In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture, a little at a time, mixing between additions.
Step 5: Place sprinkles in a small, shallow bowl. Using a cookie scoop or a heaping Tablespoon, scoop cookie dough out and roll in your hands to form a ball. Place the dough ball in the bowl of sprinkles and roll to coat in sprinkles. Place onto prepared cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
Step 6: Bake for 12-15 minutes or until set and lightly golden brown around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool fully.
Storage
Store fully cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, you can freeze the cookies for up to 3 months.
FAQ
I prefer to use a combination of butter and shortening for these pudding cookies. The shortening helps prevent the cookies from overspreading in the oven while the butter gives the cookies that real butter flavor. That said, you can use 1 cup of butter and skip the shortening, but the cookies will spread more and come out flatter. They will still taste yummy though!
Yes, to freeze the pudding cookie dough wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then place it in a freezer baggie. IT will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator overnight before baking.
Unfortunately, these cookies would not hold their shape well enough to be good cut-out cookies. You would need a recipe with a sturdy dough like these cut-out sugar cookies or shortbread cookies.
More Christmas Cookie Favorites
- Christmas Cookie Bars with M&Ms
- Soft Gingerbread Cookies
- Classic No Bake Cookies
- Christmas Snowballs with M&Ms
- Peppermint Pinwheels
- Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies
Christmas Sprinkle Pudding Cookies
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Print Pin Save RateIngredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup shortening
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3.4 ounce box instant vanilla pudding
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer and large bowl, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes).
- Beat in eggs, vanilla, and instant pudding mix.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture, a little at a time, mixing between additions.
- Place sprinkles in a small, shallow bowl. Using a cookie scoop or a heaping Tablespoon, scoop cookie dough out and roll in your hands to form a ball. Place the dough ball in the bowl of sprinkles and roll to coat in sprinkles. Place onto prepared cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until set and lightly golden brown around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool fully.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by a third party and intended to serve as an estimate only. The accuracy of nutritional information is not guaranteed.
Can’t wait to try them!!!
They are ok. Nothing exciting unfortunately 😭
I’m confused on the shortening. Is it liquid shortening like crisco vegetable oil or a solid?
The shortening will be a solid- the Crisco that comes in a little tub or the Crisco baking sticks. Both butter-flavored Crisco and the regular (blue) package work well for this recipe.
could you use different pudding flavors instead of vanilla? has anyone tried that? thanks!
Yes you could, as long it is the same size box of pudding mix.
My cookies still stayed in the hall form even in the oven for 30 minutes- it was not my oven. Any idea what went wrong?
Did you use instant pudding mix (not the cook-and-serve kind)? Did you just add the dry pudding mix (not prepare the pudding mix first)? Did you spoon and level your flour (rather than scooping)?
We love these cookies!
So glad that your family enjoys them as much as we do! Merry Christmas!
Our burned completely on the bottom even though we followed the directions to a T! I am super disappointed 😢.
Did you bake them directly on a baking sheet, use parchment paper, or something else? How long did they bake? I would also recommend checking your oven temperature with an oven thermometer to ensure it isn’t running too hot.
Your recipes are wonderful and Sharing them with us is priceless
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I am very happy the you enjoy the recipes that I share 🙂
Made these cookies for Christmas and loved them! Kids keep asking for them, so I made them after Christmas and just used rainbow sprinkles instead of the red, green, and white, but when I rolled the dough balls through the rainbow sprinkles, I can’t get them to stick. Tried pressing them on-took forever! The only thing I can think of is the rainbow sprinkles are a bit shiny and the holiday sprinkles were not. Any other suggestions? Maybe mixing into the batter?
I actually haven’t come across this issue with this particular recipe, but I have experienced it with other cookie and candy recipes that get coated with sprinkles.
I have found that wetting the cookies ever-so-slightly helps get sprinkles to stick on. I fill a small bowl with water, dip my finger into it, rub the water onto the dough ball, then roll the ball in the sprinkles.
Like you mentioned you could always mix the sprinkles into the batter instead, sort of funfetti-style 🙂