Carnival Cookies

This cookie combines two of my favorite things: chocolate and sprinkles. I wasn't sure what to name these, but when I look at the beautiful dough and see all the colors and shapes mixed together, it reminded me of a carnival!

There are a few key elements to making these cookies as delicious as possible. If you are in a rush and don't have time to let the batter sit or chill, they will still turn out delicious. However I highly recommend you take the time because it honestly takes the flavor to the next level.

The first part of taking your cookies to the next level is allowing your wet ingredients to sit for at least 10 minutes. This allows the sugars to fully dissolve, which allows those sugars to caramelize. This creates a cookie that is both crunchy along the edges and chewy in the center.

The second important process (which does make the process much longer, but so so worth it!) is allowing your dough to chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge. The longer you let your dough chill, the more intense the flavor becomes. I like to whip this batter up at night when I'm hanging around the house or watching a movie and through it in the fridge to set up over night.

The finishing touch to these cookies is the "dunking process". After your dough has chilled and you begin to scoop out your dough balls, you will "dunk" them in a mixture of leftover rainbow sprinkles, white and milk chocolate chips. Again, this step can be skipped, however it makes the cookies beautiful and allows all of the colors to bake on the top of the cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 2 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 1/4 cup flour

• 3/4 cup milk chocolate morsels

• 3/4 cup white chocolate morsels

• 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.

2. Add in vanilla and eggs into the butter and sugar mixture. After completely blended, let sit for at least 10 minutes. This is a very important step as it allows time for the sugars to dissolve. This will ultimately allow the sugars to caramelize therefore giving an extra depth of flavor as well as creating a cookie with a crunchy edge with a soft and chewy center.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. Set aside until the liquid mixture has rested. Add in flour mixture and stir until combined.

4. Add in 1/2 cup milk chocolate, 1/2 cup white chocolate and 1/2 cup of sprinkles to the dough and mix until evenly distributed. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, up to 24 hours.

5. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge after chilling. In a medium sized bowl or plate, combine the rest of the chocolate chips and sprinkles and set aside.

6. Using a medium sized ice cream scoop, measure out round dough balls onto parchment paper. You will then 'dunk' the tops of the dough balls into the sprinkle/chip mix. This part is definitely optional, but is very aesthetically pleasing and will make a really pretty cookie!

7. Place dough balls a greased or nonstick cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes.