Description
Festive 4th of July Sugar Cookies decorated with red, white, and blue royal icing, sprinkles, stars, stripes, and fireworks. These colorful cookies are perfect for Independence Day parties, picnics, and family gatherings.
Ingredients
24 baked sugar cookies
2 cups royal icing
Red gel food coloring
Blue gel food coloring
White sanding sugar
Red sprinkles
Blue sprinkles
Star-shaped sprinkles
1 toothpick
3 piping bags
Instructions
- Divide the royal icing evenly among three bowls. Tint one portion red with red gel food coloring and another blue with blue gel food coloring, leaving the third portion white.
- Transfer each color of icing to a separate piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip.
- Outline several cookies with white royal icing and flood the centers. Let the icing settle for 1 to 2 minutes before decorating.
- For flag-inspired cookies, pipe a blue section and red stripes directly onto the wet white icing.
- For fireworks, pipe small red and blue dots onto freshly flooded cookies. While the icing is wet, gently drag the colors outward from the center with a toothpick.
- For star designs, outline and flood star-shaped areas with blue icing and decorate with white star-shaped sprinkles.
- For striped cookies, pipe alternating lines of red and white icing across the surface.
- For chevron designs, pipe alternating red and blue icing stripes while the icing is wet. Drag a toothpick through the stripes in alternating directions to create the pattern.
- For simple polka-dot cookies, decorate with dots of red, white, and blue icing.
- Finish the cookies with white sanding sugar, red and blue sprinkles, or star-shaped sprinkles. Allow the royal icing to dry completely before stacking, storing, or serving.
Notes
For a marbled design, add small dots or lines of red and blue icing over wet white icing and gently swirl with a toothpick without overmixing the colors.
For extra sparkle, add white sanding sugar to freshly piped icing.
Use simple dots or stripes when decorating a large batch quickly.
Star, circle, and rectangle sugar cookies all work well for patriotic designs.
Homemade or store-bought sugar cookies can be used as long as they are completely cool and have relatively flat surfaces.
Allow the royal icing to dry completely before storing. Keep cookies in an airtight container with parchment or wax paper between layers.
Store decorated cookies at room temperature in a cool, dry location or freeze fully dried cookies in a freezer-safe airtight container.
Thaw frozen cookies before serving and do not reheat, as heat can damage the royal icing decorations.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Decorating
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 20 g
- Sodium: 85 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 32 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
