Pastel Crinkle Cookies (Printable)

Soft, chewy pastel-colored cookies with a crackled powdered sugar coating. Ready in 30 minutes.

# What You Need:

→ Cookie Dough

01 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 1½ teaspoons baking powder
03 - ¼ teaspoon salt
04 - ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
05 - 1 cup granulated sugar
06 - 2 large eggs
07 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
08 - ¼ cup whole milk

→ For Coloring

09 - Pink, yellow, green, and blue gel food coloring

→ For Rolling

10 - ¾ cup powdered sugar

# How-To:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
03 - Beat butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
04 - Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla extract. Mix well.
05 - Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in two parts, alternating with milk. Mix until just combined.
06 - Divide dough evenly into 3 or 4 bowls. Tint each portion with gel food coloring, mixing gently to achieve pastel shades.
07 - Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes if it feels too soft to handle.
08 - Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Roll in powdered sugar until well coated. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
09 - Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are set and tops are crackled but still soft in the center.
10 - Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • These cookies look like you spent hours on them, but they come together in under 30 minutes
  • The crackled sugar coating makes every bite perfectly crispy on the outside and pillow-soft inside
  • They're impossible to resist at spring brunches, baby showers, or just because Tuesday needed sprinkling
02 -
  • Chilling the dough for even 15 minutes prevents cookies from spreading too thin and losing their shape
  • Gel coloring creates true pastel shades with just a few drops, unlike liquid food coloring which can thin the dough
  • The powdered sugar coating is essential, not optional, for those signature crackles to form properly
03 -
  • Room temperature ingredients make all the difference in dough texture and mixing success
  • The crinkles appear most dramatically when you don't overmix the dough after adding flour

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