Santa's Helper Cookies

Description

These colorful holiday cookies are the perfect thing to make with little helpers in the kitchen.

Santa's Helper Cookies are the perfect way to get your little helpers into the kitchen for the holiday season! With a little prep—and a whole lot of sprinkles—these cookies will be bringing smiles to faces all season long. The cookies require some chill time, but otherwise come together quickly. Rolling the dough in festive sprinkles is the ideal job for little hands that want to help out. And while these cookies would make a great snack for Santa on the big night—he probably wouldn't mind if his little helpers had a taste of them too (we won't tell!).

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup almond milk (such as Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 extra large egg
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup holiday jimmie sprinkles
• 1/4 cup green sanding sugar (for rolling)
• 1/4 cup red sanding sugar (for rolling)

Steps

1. Gather all ingredients.
2. Combine almond milk, vegetable oil, egg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, salt, almond extract, and ground nutmeg in a large bowl. Beat ingredients together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.
3. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until just combined. Fold in jimmie sprinkles.
4. Cover dough and freeze for at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate for at least 2 hours).
5. Position an oven rack in the upper 1/3rd of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place green sanding sugar in a small bowl. Place red sanding sugar in a separate small bowl.
6. Remove dough from freezer. Scoop out 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball (dough will be a little sticky, but should still roll into a ball). Roll dough ball in one of the colored sanding sugars until thoroughly coated. Set onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat rolling and coating with remaining dough and set cookies 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. If dough becomes too sticky to handle, return to the freezer until rollable again.
7. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, in the preheated oven until cookies begin to crackle on top, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.