Cotton Candy Cookies are a sweet treat with a nostalgic flavor that will remind you of being a kid at the county fair!
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With a little bit of cotton candy extract and some food coloring, you can create these delicious cotton candy sugar cookies. They are a fun and whimsical treat that's perfect for birthday parties and other special occasions.
🧂 Ingredients
This is meant to be a brief overview of this great recipe. For step-by-step instructions and a full printable recipe card with ingredients, please scroll down to the teal box below.
🔪 Instructions
- Preheat the oven and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and cotton candy extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. The dough will be a little crumbly.
- Divide the dough into two equal sections.
Here's how to shape the cookies:
- Knead the pink food coloring into one half of the dough and the blue food coloring into the other half.
- Roll each dough ball out to ¼ inch thickness.
- Carefully place one sheet of cookie dough on top of the other. Remove any air pockets by patting gently.
- Starting from the long end, tightly roll the cookies up into a log shape.
- Cut the cookie dough into ¼-inch slices. Place the cookies onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes at 350 degrees then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies are fully cooled, you can add icing or frosting as desired.
🥄Equipment
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To make these easy cookies, you will need measuring spoons and dry measuring cups, along with mixing bowls.
You will also need a good-quality baking sheet and at least one cooling rack. It can be helpful to line your baking tray with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
For a list of some of my favorite items to use when cooking, and why I chose them, please visit my Kitchen Resource page.
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🫙 Storage
To Store: Cotton candy cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 5-6 days. (These are my favorite airtight containers.)
To Freeze Dough: Portion the cookie dough on a baking sheet and flash freeze for one hour. Place all the frozen cookie dough balls into a freezer bag. Seal tight and label. Frozen cookie dough will last up to 3 months.
Cookies can be baked from frozen (they will need a little bit more time.
To Freeze Baked Cookies: Double bag the cookies before freezing. Baked cookies will last 3-4 weeks in the freezer.
To Thaw: Place the frozen cookies into the fridge and allow them to thaw overnight.
📖 Variations
The first time you try any new recipe we recommend that you make it just as it is written on the recipe card since that is how our cookie recipe has been tested. However, the next time you make our recipe, you might want to try one of these ideas:
Instead of pinwheel cookies, you could also make these with a marble pattern by rolling the pink and blue dough out together in a random pattern and using a cookie cutter to shape them.
Out of something you need? Check out our free ingredient substitutions printable!
Turn these into cookie sandwiches by making a quick cotton candy buttercream frosting by using cotton candy extract instead of vanilla extract. Or for an even more decadent treat, sandwich vanilla ice cream or cotton candy ice cream in between two cookies.
🍪 Serving Suggestions
Make ice cream sandwiches or an ice cream sundae with whipped cream and caramel sauce, hot fudge, or peanut butter topping using these cookies. You'll love our homemade vanilla ice cream, and this strawberry ice cream is delicious, too.
😋 Similar Recipes
Next time, try one of these delicious recipes:
And if you love cotton candy, check out our cotton candy cocktails, cotton candy desserts, cotton candy fudge, and cotton candy mocktails.
These cookies would be a great addition to a mermaid birthday party or Frozen-themed party along with cotton candy fudge!
Not ready to make this cotton candy sugar cookie recipe yet?
When you do make it, please come back and comment and leave me a 5-star rating below! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cotton Candy Cookies
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Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ teaspoon cotton candy flavoring
- Pink food coloring
- Blue food coloring
- Powdered sugar or flour for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. (An electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment is ideal, but a hand mixer will work also).1 cup butter, softened, 1 cup sugar
- Add the egg and cotton candy extract. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.1 egg, 1 ½ teaspoon cotton candy flavoring
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. The dough will be a little crumbly.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide the dough into two equal portions.
- Knead the pink food coloring into one half of the dough and the blue food coloring into the other half.Pink food coloring, Blue food coloring
- Roll each dough ball out into a rectangle that is ¼ inch thick.
- Carefully place one sheet of cookie dough on top of the other. Remove any air pockets by patting gently.
- Starting from the long end, tightly roll the cookies up into a log shape.
- Cut the cookie dough into ¼ inch slices. Place cookies onto the prepared cookie sheet.Powdered sugar or flour
- Bake for 7-9 minutes at 350 degrees then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies are fully cooled, you can add icing or frosting if desired.
Darlene Bonser says
Recipe for cotton candy cookies shows 12 sticks of butter. Is this supposed to be 1/2 stick? Can you give amount in cup measure.
Angela Paris says
Good catch Darlene, sorry about that. It's 1 cup of butter. I've fixed the recipe card.