Firework Cookies

Firework Cookies

Firework Cookies

Happy Fourth of July! I made patriotic cookies this weekend so the jimmies in the dough are red, white, and blue. I use the recipe from my Easter Rainbow Funfetti Cookies. The colors for the icing are AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Super Red and Royal Blue. To make the shape, I use a scalloped flower cutter and had fun making these cookies. See recipe below.

Yield: 3 Dozen 3-inch cookies

Firework Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup, 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened and each stick cut into cubes

1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

1 Large Egg

2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

2 3/4 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

3/4 cup Red, White, and Blue Jimmies

Directions
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed; 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix for a 5 seconds.

Add eggs, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Do not overmix.

Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5 seconds.

With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture and incorporate.

Add jimmies and mix until incorporated.

The dough is ready when it begins to clump around paddle attachment.

Roll dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight.

If you are pressed for time place in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.

Take half of the dough leaving unused dough covered with plastic wrap in fridge until ready to use.

Heat oven to 400°F.

Use two sheets of parchment paper with dough in between and roll with rolling pin until desired thickness is reached.

Cut shapes and place onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Place cookie sheets in freezer for 15 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until the edges have slightly browned. My cookies baked in 9 minutes.

Wait 5 minutes before transferring cookies on cooling racks to complete cooling.

Decorate once cookies cool completely.

Royal Icing
Ingredients
4 Egg Whites

4 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

6 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract

1-3 teaspoons Water

Close-up of Firework Cookies

Directions
In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar; set aside.

In a bowl, add egg whites.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Making border around cookie

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.

Add vanilla extract and mix for 5-10 seconds.

With mixer speed on low, slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

Circles are done; just need to drag with scribe tool or toothpick

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. I used a flood icing consistency for this recipe.

Separate the white icing, and transfer to a squeeze bottle.

Design is complete; let dry

For the red and blue icing, separate each in plastic containers with lids.

I use AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color Super Red and Royal Blue. Use 1-2 drops at a time until you reach the color desired.

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color.

Ready to decorate

Transfer the icing immediately into 2 squeeze bottles.

If the royal icing hardens due to exposure to air, use a spray bottle and spritz a little bit of water, and shake well holding the tip with your finger.

Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie. Be careful doing this since you do not want to make the icing to end up watery and break up.

With the white icing, outline no more than three cookies at a time, then fill each one.

Dough is ready to chill

Use a cookie stick or paintbrush to reach the edges, and use tip of cookie stick or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the icing.

While the icing is wet start by making a dot in the center and make circles around the icing in alternating colors for a pretty design. Use any color combination you want.

If you fill the cookie white as I did, use red and blue to marble or just a single color. You can alternate by filling the cookie red or blue but if you do this be sure to alternate with the other two colors.

Use Wilton Scribe tool or toothpick and gently drag across making a web-like design. You can alternate dragging for variation.

Scallop shape flower cookie cutter

Keep scribe tool or toothpick clean by wiping often to remove icing as you decorate each cookie.

Repeat until you are done.

If the icing dries, the marbling wet-on-wet technique will not work.

Let cookies dry overnight. This is essential so the icing does not stick together when you stack them or place in cookie tins or gift bags.

If you are baking and it is humid, allow more time for the cookies to dry.

For the Firework Cookies recipe, visit Making It With Danielle:
https://makingitwithdanielle.com/2012/07/02/firework-cookies/

For the Rainbow Funfetti Cut-out Cookies recipe, visit Sweet Sugarbelle:
http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2015/07/rainbow-funfetti-cutout-cookie-recipe/

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys