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This morning, I had this feeling wash over me that I needed to do something fun with my daughter and set work aside. The specific need to teach her to bake suddenly flared up. We had to make Sprinkle Cookies. And I mean we had to. I bet you know why…

sprinkle cookies and magnet letters spelling LOVE

The New and Improved MomGuilt™: Quarantine Edition

This morning, MomGuilt™ kicked in. Actually, it’s kind of been hanging out, sitting on my counter, drinking my cold coffee, and kicking its feet for a couple of weeks.

Occasionally, it hops down and takes a sip of the baby’s room temperature milk with a raised eyebrow and glances at the TV that never turns off anymore. Once or twice a day, it tiptoes through the trail of toys that spans the living room and kitchen and clucks its tongue at the dog hair-balls accumulating in the corners and the three-day-old stack of dishes on the counter. Yeah, MomGuilt™ is awful.

And Introducing the DadGuilt™ Upgrade

I bet you probably have its fun partner DadGuilt™ hanging around your house, too. Maybe you got the two-for-one upgrade like we did.

DadGuilt™ works a little differently. It shoves you down the stairs between meetings for a hug and then makes your phone ring the second your baby’s nose is nestled into your neck. At night, it makes the clock tick louder as bedtime approaches.

Now with SpouseGuilt™!

This sneaky upgrade has the fun feature of erasing your mental reminder to perform basic hygiene (except for the obsessive washing of hands), mussing your partner’s hair, and enhancing the dark circles under their eyes. That’s called the SpouseGuilt™ 2.0.

sprinkle cookie dough in a white bowl with a cookie scoop

We Parents Are Just Not Okay

Anyway, for the past three weeks, I’ve sat at my desk and let my kid run around throwing her toys everywhere. She’s named her baby doll for one of her friends at daycare, so I’ve played along like the doll is her real-life friend. My toddler is trying to cope, and I feel like that is the least I can do.

She tells me the names of her friends after we say our bedtime prayers, and then she brings her baby to bed. She tucks the baby in and pats her back while she goes to sleep, and it breaks my heart.

How many times have you cried over your kid since quarantine started? I’m catching up on my postpartum crying record really quickly. This has been so hard.

Do me a favor and share this post with your friends who have kids. I want to know how other working parents are faring these days. Are we all feeling like failures? Let’s commiserate!

Closeup of a sprinkle covered cookie dough ball

So, We Made Sprinkle Cookies

My little girl loves sprinkles. So, this morning, we got out all the sprinkles, and we made cookies. MomGuilt™ had me wondering how badly I’m messing up my kid by keeping her from her friends and working instead of being an involved mom.

I started with a very basic sugar cookie dough. I sifted the dry ingredients into a bowl and got everything set up first. Then, we pulled her stool up to the counter and I gave her her favorite rubber spatula. It’s got bright colors on one side and measuring conversions on the other side.

As we creamed the butter and sugar in the stand mixer, she leaned her forehead onto the side and watched it spin. I reminded her to wait and not touch as I cracked in the egg. Then, she held the teaspoon as I poured vanilla into it. She dumped that in and then held her spatula again as we turned the mixer back on.

Finally, she helped me tilt the bowl of dry ingredients into the bowl and start the mixer again. This was very serious work, and she was thoroughly engaged.

Then, we poured all the sprinkles into a small plastic bowl. I rolled the dough into balls, and we tossed the balls in the sprinkles. It’s the same way you coat your snickerdoodles in cinnamon sugar.

My daughter stood on her little stool and ate sprinkles off her sticky fingers. She giggled and dumped the rest of the sprinkles into our bowl of dough while I was putting the first batch in the oven.

Scooped sprinkle cookies on a baking sheet

Sprinkle Cookies 2 Ways!

My baby girl’s experiment is the reason I have two ways for you to make sprinkle cookies. How fun, right? That means you can either put in a bit more effort or maybe a little less. Either way, you come out with yummy and colorful cookies.

The First Method: Rolling

The first method involves spooning 1-Tablespoon sized balls out. Roll them between your hands to get a smooth even surface with no cracks. Then, fill a bowl with sprinkles. I used Jimmies first and then nonpareils. This was just due to the quantity of what we had on hand. I wouldn’t mix them, though.

Coat each ball in sprinkles and set it on a lined baking sheet. I used a silicon mat, but parchment paper works, too. Set the balls 2-inches apart. Gently press the balls down a little bit so they don’t roll.

The Second Method: Mix-In

The second method is easier. You will gently fold in the sprinkles, careful not to overmix. Overmixing just leads to streaky cookies. That’s fun and colorful, but it can also cause a muddy looking mess.

Spoon out 1-Tablespoon sized balls. You can either roll them into balls or you can simply drop the dollops onto the lined baking sheet. Take care to set the balls 2-inches apart, though. Give the sprinkle cookies room to spread.

Made for a Child’s Palette

Okay, when these came out of the oven, I have to admit, they puffed more than I was used to them doing. But, the interiors were so plush and pillowy that I would 100% do it the same way in the future.

It’s also worth noting that I felt the cookies are pretty sweet and the flavor is very subtle. That’s honestly what makes them so great for little ones. Sprinkle Cookies aren’t exactly a complex, flavorful, grown-up treat. They are specifically for kids… or inner children.

So, if you feel like you need to go the extra mile for your adult brain, feel free to glaze them. The glaze is simple enough. It’s just powdered sugar and lemon juice. All it does is make your cookies a little bit crunchy and adds a bit of sweet and sour complexity.

It’s simple enough, just 1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar mixed with 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice. Then, just dip the tops of your cookies in, and let them dry! You can check out the lemon poppyseed cookie recipe for more information.

But I don’t have time for that nonsense right now. I bet you don’t either. Haha!

Sprinkle Cookies: The Bonus Level

Okay, all of this sounds really simple, right? And oh, how sweet! I got my 21-month old to stand on a stool and make a minimal mess of sprinkles. I know half of you are flipping me off right now. No way your kid will do this.

Let’s be fair. My kid needed supervision and instruction. I talked to her the whole time and guided her hands and held her a little bit. I also had everything pre-measured and took precautions to avoid her ever handling a big bowl or anything messy or breakable.

I also made the conscious decision to give her freedom with the sprinkles. In fact, I put them in one of her snack bowls. You have to resign yourself to the mess about to be made and relax into the experience of baking with your kid. That’s the only way this is actually enjoyable.

But the true bonus level is going to be the screaming, “COOKIE COOKIE COOOOOOOKKKIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” while your sprinkle cookies cool. And then again when they finish the one cookie you gave them as a snack but because you need them to sleep at naptime won’t give them more.

For this part, yeah, I will apologize. Just do your best. Throw a dish towel over them and ply the Cookie Monsters with a grilled cheese sandwich. Then, once nap time arrives, it’s totally okay to eat three or four in the pantry, in the dark, crying. I’ll be with you in spirit.

stack of sprinkle cookies in front of cooling rack of cookies

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