Celebrate a big day with these delicious dairy free birthday cake cookies! These taste like confetti cake but in cookie form, and are completely free from any milk-based ingredients. Soft, chewy, and packed with rainbow sprinkles! They’ve become a fast favorite in our house, perfect for any occasion. Birthdays? Of course. Holidays? Yes please. A random Tuesday? Why not?!
Ingredient Notes
Here’s a photo of all the ingredients you’ll need, along with selected product suggestions:
- Dairy-free butter – Country Crock plant butter sticks work well in cookie recipes; you can either use the avocado oil sticks or the generic baking sticks. If you need a soy-free option, Earth Balance soy free sticks are a good choice. Note that some dairy-free butters, especially tub versions, have a higher moisture content that don’t work well for cookies. I recommend using the brands mentioned for best results.
- Sprinkles – These are best made with rainbow sprinkles, often labeled “jimmies”. Avoid using nonpareils because they can leave too much crunch and can also bleed into the cookie. While most sprinkles are dairy-free, you should always double check the label to confirm. I used Wilton rainbow sprinkles which were dairy-free at the time of publish.
Instructions
You’ll find the full recipe amounts and instructions in the recipe card below, but here’s a helpful overview with photos and tips.
Start by creaming together the dairy-free butter, sugar, and brown sugar. I find this easiest to do in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, but you can use a hand mixer as well if that’s what you’ve got. You want the mixture to be light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together, then fold in the rainbow sprinkles.
Portion out onto baking sheets using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop. Bake ‘em for about 10-12 minutes until done.
Quick tip – If baking two pans at once, I set the racks so that one is at center and the other rack is two notches up, around the top third of the oven. Then I swap the pans about halfway through cooking so both cook perfectly even (otherwise sometimes the bottom pan will have crisper bottoms).
Let them cool on the pan and enjoy! Store cookies in an airtight container or ziptop bag at room temperature. Enjoy within a few days for best quality.
Allergens in this Recipe
Disclaimer: Always double check ingredients and labels yourself prior to making a recipe. While I try to check all ingredients for allergens, there’s always the chance I may miss something, or manufacturer formulations can change.
As written, this recipe is dairy free.
This recipe does contain wheat/gluten (in the all-purpose flour), egg (in the egg), and soy (in the sprinkles and dairy-free butter). While it does not contain tree nut ingredients with the products I used, note that my sprinkles did contain a cross-contamination warning for tree nuts.
Soy and tree nuts are easily eliminated by selecting sprinkles and dairy-free butter that are free from these ingredients.
I have not tested substitutions for the egg and wheat/gluten in this recipe, so I can’t confirm options that will definitely work. However, generally my go-to substitutions are gluten free measure-for-measure flour blend in place of all-purpose flour, and a flax egg in place of the regular egg.
More Dairy Free Cookie Recipes
If you’re looking for more delicious dairy free cookies, be sure to look through the site – we have *tons* on here! A few of my favorites include:
- Butternut squash molasses cookies
- Dairy-free brownie mix cookies
- Dairy-free chocolate chip cookies
- Dairy free butter pecan cookies
- Double chocolate olive oil cookies
I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you get a chance to try it, please leave a recipe rating or comment below.
Dairy Free Birthday Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup dairy-free butter, softened to room temperature (1 stick; recommend Country Crock Plant Butter sticks)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup rainbow sprinkles (double check to ensure dairy-free)
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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In another large mixing bowl, cream together the dairy-free butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
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Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
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In another medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the sprinkles.
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Portion out the cookie dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheets using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop (or just heaping spoonfuls). Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies no longer look wet on top.
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Let cool on the pan, then enjoy.
Recipe Notes
- Do not melt the butter or the cookies can spread too much. The butter should only be softened to room temperature.
Nutrition analysis (approximate per cookie): 124 calories, 5 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 95 mg sodium, 19 g carbohydrate, <0.5 g fiber, 11 g sugar, 1.5 g protein, Vitamin D: 0%, Calcium: 0%, Iron: 3%, Potassium: 0%
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