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Fourth of July Sugar Cookies

These Fourth of July sugar cookies are the perfect sweet treat to your holiday dessert table. Plus you get to impress people with your decorating skills.

There are certain things I’m completely scared of when it comes to baking. Two of those things are pretty decorated sugar cookies and anything containing yeast. I decided to stand up to one of my fears and see if I could manage to make a decent looking sugar cookie.

They are not award winning but I will still give myself a pat on the back . (Don’t judge to harshly…I’m just learning!)

I did stars for the Fourth of July but the technique can be used on any design of sugar cookie you desire.  I also want to throw out a HUGE thank you to Bridget of Bake at 350 for putting tutorials on her blog. If it wasn’t for her posts I wouldn’t have figured out what to do….thanks!

Fourth of July Sugar Cookies

These Fourth of July sugar cookies are the perfect sweet treat to your holiday dessert table. Plus you get to impress people with your decorating skills.

Yield: 2 -3 dozen decorated cookies

Prep Time: 120 minutes

Total Time: 120 minutes

Ingredients:

For Sugar Cookies:
Make your favorite sugar cookie recipe (No favorite? Try Bridget’s Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies)

For Royal Icing:
4 tablespoons meringue powder
Scant 1/2 cup water
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup

No-taste red gel food coloring
Blue gel food coloring

Source: Bake at 350

Directions:

For Cookies:
Cut out star shape, bake and let cookies cool.

For Royal Icing:

Combine meringue powder and water in bowl of an electric mixer. With your paddle attachment beat until combined and foamy.

Sift powdered sugar into meringue mixture and beat on low to combine.

Add in corn syrup and increase speed to medium high for about 5 minutes. You want the icing to look glossy and have stiff peaks. A still peak will not fall if jiggled. Do not overbeat.

Dived icing evenly between three bowls.

Prepare a piping bag with a #3 tip. Fill bag with one bowl of white icing. This will be used for your outlining (Any leftover can be thinned and used to fill cookies if needed)

Add red coloring to one bowl and with rubber spatula stir until desired color is reached. Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing.

Add blue color to other bowl and with rubber spatula stir until desired color is reached. Cover with plastic wrap touch the icing.

Outline your cookies with stiff icing and let rest for at least an hour before you attempt to flood the cookies. If you want to have sprinkles around the edges you can dip wet outlined cookies into a bowl of sprinkles. These still need to dry before being flooded.

For Thinned Icing:

Add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup.

Cover with a damp dishtowel for several minutes. Run a rubber spatula through the icing to pop any air bubbles that have formed on top.

Put thinned icing into squeeze bottles.

For Flooding Cookies:

Gently squeeze flooded icing onto the cookies. Using a toothpick, spread the icing into the corners and edges of the cookie. Let cookies dry overnight.

For Decorating Cooking:

Dots: To add dots of different colors into your cookies you simply flood the cookie. Let it rest for a few minutes and then use another thinned icing color and squeeze little dots into the flooded cookie.

Swirls: Flood the cookies and let sit for a few minutes. Add a few dots onto the cookie and using a toothpick simply connect the dots (will make a heart shape) or just swirl lines into the cookie.

Sprinkles: Flood the cookies and sprinkle with sprinkles

Want to watch a video to see exactly how to thin your icing? Click here.

Want to watch a video to see exactly how to flood the cookies? Click here.

Want to watch a video to see exactly how to make royal icing? Click here.