Brightly colored, these Spring Flower Sugar Cookies are rolled in sanding sugar and baked into beautiful edible flowers. These tasty cookies are topped with Nerds Clusters candies to make them look like the prettiest bunch you've ever seen!
Surprise someone with a different kind of bouquet this Valentine's Day, or Mother's Day. These delicious edible spring flowers look the part in a gift basket of goodies for your special one!
Spring is coming, and you know what that means. Spring flower cookies!
What is spring without colorful, fun, candy-topped cookies to brighten your day?!
This flower sugar cookie recipe is different from a lot of spring cookie recipes I've seen. Other recipes use assorted cookie cutters to make a flower or leaf shape for the cookies before decorating them.
Some recipes also used lots of frosting or icing to add a flower to the cookie. In my opinion, coloring the cookies and slicing the cookie dough slightly to make flower petals is a better way to make a flower cookie. The whole cookie is decorated - they stand out from other cookies, and they look amazing on a cookie platter!
This is also a great recipe to use when you realize you've used the last container of icing but you need to make fancy cookies! They're fully customizable for any special occasion or birthday party too.
For other easy recipes that are perfect for your spring celebration, check out these Chocolate No Bake Birds Next Cookies, my Pistachio Pudding White Chocolate Chip Cookies, and these Rainbow Funfetti Sandwich Cookies!
Shopping List
You may already have these simple ingredients to hand, if not, you can find what you need in local grocery stores.
Wet Ingredients. Butter, Vanilla Extract, Egg, Vegetable Oil, Food Coloring (in Yellow, Pink, and Purple)
Dry Ingredients. All Purpose Flour, White Granulated Sugar, Powdered Sugar, Baking Soda, Cream of Tartar, Sanding Sugar (in Yellow, Pink, and Purple)
Candy. 24 Nerds Custers (or Jelly Beans, Gumdrops, or M&M's)
How to Make Spring Flower Sugar Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 F Degrees and prepare your baking sheets. You can use ungreased cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer cream together softened butter and granulated sugar.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. It's always important to scape sides of mixing bowl to include all the ingredients evenly. The mixture should be light and fluffy after a few minutes.
Mix in the large Egg and Vanilla Extract before adding the Vegetable Oil and Powdered Sugar. Continue to cream together for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Gradually add in the remaining dry ingredients until fully combined.
Divide the cookie dough into 3 smaller bowls. Color each portion in different colors using a few drops of food coloring with Yellow, Pink, and Purple food coloring.
I use AmeriColor Food Gel to achieve bright vibrant colors.
Scoop the cookie dough into balls with a cookie scoop and roll the cookie dough balls in a coordinating sanding sugar.
Place cookie dough scoops onto your prepared baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a knife slice into the unbaked cookies with 3 cuts. Do NOT Cut all the way through. Cutting about halfway through the cookie dough.
Bake cookies for 7-9 minutes, or until the edges are set. Be careful not to overbake them.
Place 1 Nerds Cluster, M&M, or Jellybean in the center of the flower while they are still warm.
Allow cookies to cool for a minute on the baking sheet then place cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Storage & Freezing
Storage: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 7 days, though these flower cookies are best if enjoyed within 2-3 days.
Freezing: Cookies can be stored in a sealed container and frozen for up to 3 months. Place a sheet of parchment paper between each cookie to prevent sticking.
Substitutions & Variations
- Colors. You can use any color of food coloring to make these flower cookies into the perfect bunch! Use more drops to intensify the color if you want to do a few shades of the same color.
- Holidays. Use blue and red to make some of the flowers blue and red, leaving others plain with white icing on top for a 4th of July party, or make a purple, green, and yellow flower combination for Mardi Gras!
- Candy. Use a different kind of candy for the top of the cookie. You can use chocolate like a mini peanut butter cup, or M&Ms, or candies like Red Hots, or make colorful nonpareil flower centers with rainbow sprinkles.
- Chocolate. Add white chocolate chips to give these cookies white polka dots and to add a burst of sweetness throughout the cookies.
- Icing. Add a drizzle of white icing to the cookies to give the flowers more detail, or color the icing if you prefer.
- Cookies. You can make these flowers using other cookie recipes, like using peanut butter cookie dough with added food coloring.
Pro Tips
What makes a good cookie? Does it have a soft center and crispy edges, and is it chewy? Each of these makes a great quality cookie. To make perfect cookies every time here are some pro tips.
To find out more, check out my Pro Tips Guide for making the best cookies every time!
Weighing Ingredients.
Baking is a science and adding too much or too little of any of the ingredients will alter the recipe. Weighing and measuring dry ingredients properly makes a world of difference. Investing in a kitchen scale is ideal. When a kitchen scale is not available, make sure to stir and lift ingredients before scooping them into a measuring cup.
| Volume | Ounces | Grams | |
| All Purpose Flour | 1 Cup | 4½ Ounces | 120 Grams |
| Bread Flour | 1 Cup | 4½ Ounces | 120 Grams |
| Granulated Sugar | 1 Cup | 7 Ounces | 200 Grams |
| Brown Sugar | 1 Cup | 7½ Ounces | 213 Grams |
| Confectionary Sugar | 1 Cup | 4 Ounces | 113 Grams |
Preheat Oven.
A preheated oven is best when baking a chewy and soft cookie.
Room Temperature Ingredients.
Softened Butter and room temperature egg are a must when baking.
Cookie Sheets.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or use baking spray
Cookie Dough.
Chilling the dough is not necessary with this recipe.
Cooling Rack.
Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Kitchen Scale. I use this for accuracy in measuring and it's a lifesaver when it comes to consistent baking
- Wire Rack for cooling cookies. I like to have at least 2 cooling racks
- Mixing Bowls. A Large Mixing Bowl for mixing ingredients and small and medium mixing bowls for other ingredients
- Cookie Sheet. Most recipes will take 2 batches to bake. It's great to have multiple baking sheets available
- Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mat. Line the Cookie Sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup and to prevent sticking.
- Cookie Scoop. A small #60 Cookie Scoop or a Medium Cookie Scoop #50 are great choices for uniform drops of cookie dough.
- Storage Container. An Airtight Container to store cookies or a Ziploc Bag works great too.
- Additional supplies. Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons along with a silicone spatula are all helpful.
Have you tried this Spring Flower Sugar Cookies recipe?
Let me know what you thought of this recipe! Tag @bestcookierecipes on social media so I can see how great your cookies turned out! I would also love to read your comments below. Let me know what you think of these cookies. It really does help!
More Colorful Cookie Recipes
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Strawberry Lemonade Cookie Bars
- Lemon Blueberry Cookies
- Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
- Neapolitan Cookies
- Church Window Cookies
- Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
Spring Flower Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter Softened
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar 100g
- ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar 65g
- 1 Egg Large
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour 240g
- ½ cup Sanding Sugar Yellow, Pink, Purple *Divided
- Food Coloring Yellow,Pink, and Purple
- 24 Nerds Clusters *Substitute Jelly Beans Gumdrops, M&M's
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F Degrees. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat.
- In a large mixing bowl cream together Butter and Granulated Sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture should be light and fluffy.
- Mix in the Egg and Vanilla Extract before adding Vegetable Oil and Powdered Sugar. Then, continue to cream together for an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Gradually add the remaining dry ingredients until combined.
- Divide the cookie dough into 3 smaller bowls. Color each portion in different colors using food coloring. Yellow, Pink, or Purple.
- Scoop cookie dough with a cookie scoop and roll in coordinating sanding sugar.
- Place cookie dough scoops on lined baking sheets with parchment paper
- Using a knife slice into the unbaked cookies with 3 cuts. Do NOT Cut all the way through. Cutting about halfway through the cookie dough.
- Bake cookies for 7-9 minutes. Bake until the edges are set. Do not overbake.
- Place 1 Nerds Cluster, M&M, or Jellybean in the center of the flower while they are warm,
- Allow cookies to cool for a minute on the baking sheet before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition Disclaimer
All nutrition values are approximate and calculated by a plugin and are provided as a courtesy. Adding or subtracting ingredients will change the nutritional value.
Lynn @ Fresh April Flours
These are SO CUTE! I followed the recipe but added 1/2 teaspoon of salt. These were for my son's preschool teach appreciation lunch and the theme was flowers. I tinted them pink and used two mini scoops (cookie scoop #110) to make slightly smaller flower cookies than pictured. I got about 38 cookies with this size. Rave reviews all around! Thanks for the recipe, Rebecca.