Prep and line: preheat your oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream butter, sugars, and vanilla: cream together the butter, 1 ¼ cups sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla extract for 1-2 minutes until very light and fluffy on medium-high speed using a hand or stand mixer.**
Beat in the egg: add in the egg and beat for 30 seconds more on medium-high until the batter is smooth, opaque, and slightly fluffy.
Mix in dries: add in flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed until fully combined, then beat briefly on medium-low for just 15-20 seconds. A smooth, stiff dough should form, and be sure to scrape the bowl really well about half-way through mixing.
Color your dough: if you would like to color your dough, divide it equally into individual bowls for each color. Add the coloring to your dough to reach your desired hue, blending in the color by hand in each dough piece. (You also don’t have to color the dough at all if you don’t want to!)
Scoop and decorate: place 1 cup of sugar in a fairly small, wide bowl. Scoop dough into 2" balls (about 2 tablespoons of dough) for big cookies, or 1" round balls (about 1 tablespoon of dough) for mini cookies. Roll dough balls between your hands to fully round if not using an ice cream scoop, then roll in the sugar until fully coated.
Tray and bake: place cookies on prepared trays, at least 3” apart. Press a few candy eyes firmly into the surface of each cookie. Bake big cookies for 9-12 minutes, or minis for 6-8 minutes, just until their bottoms are golden brown and they look fully set and crackled on top (you do want these cookies to be a little under-baked for the tastiest texture and if they brown too much it'll dull your colors).
Knock em' down: knock each tray firmly on the counter or stovetop immediately after removal from the oven to collapse the dome and get that perfect cookie crackle.
Cool, share, and enjoy: allow cookies to cool as long as you can (so those doughy middles can set up to a perfectly chewy center, and the edges can get deliciously crisp). Then pass around these monstrously delicious treats that will put a smile on any kiddos face!
Notes
*Candy Eyeballs: some candy eyeballs hold up better in the oven than others. These are the ones I use for these cookies that work great!
**When to color your dough: if you’re only using one color for your cookies, you can add the coloring when creaming the butter and sugar together, and just make sure it’s a little darker than you’d like as it will lighten when you add the other ingredients. If you’d like to use multiple colors, then wait to color the dough as the very last step.
It’d mean so much to me if you could please give the recipe card a ⭐ rating on the site and leave a comment to help others find this sweet recipe! Xo, Jocelyn @ Mint+Mallow