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If you love making sugar cookies for holidays, then these 4th of July Cookies are ones you should make this summer! I love decorated sugar cookies but I always have a hard time making the perfect decorations – until now.

chocolate star sugar cookies with red white and blue frosting


Buttercream Sugar Cookies

These easy tips will show you how easy it is to decorate sugar cookies in patriotic colors – and they’ll look like a professional made them!

I make sugar cookies every year for Christmas; they’re our absolute favorite. As much as I’d love to make royal icing and do flooding and super intricate designs, that is just not me. I’m more of a buttercream cookie frosting gal, even better if you just frost with a knife and load on the sprinkles.

BUT! Sometimes you want to make cute decorative sugar cookies, but you want an easy way to do it where they’ll look great every time. That’s when you need THIS tutorial.

These Patriotic Sugar Cookies are so easy to make and look how fun and festive they are – and you just need some pastry bags and a couple of tips to do it. ANYONE can make pretty sugar cookies, I promise. If I can do it, so can you!

star cookie decorated like an american flag

You can use my favorite vanilla cut out sugar cookie recipe for these cookies or my newest obsession: Chocolate Cut Out Cookies. They’re easy and delicious and they work every time. You could also use a package mix or a refrigerated dough.

I love to roll my dough right after mixing and then chill the flat sheets because it cuts the chill time in half.

Be sure to bake the dough COLD so that the cookies don’t spread. I talk about all the details and tips and tricks in that sugar cookie post.

For 4th of July cookies, you’ll want star cookie cutters. (See below for product links.) I used a pack of nested cookie cutters, but you can use any shape or size.

Equipment

If you’re just using a knife to decorate your sugar cookies with icing, then you don’t need lots of equipment outside of cookie cutters. However, to do this method of decorative icing, you do need a few things like pastry bags, couplers, and tips.

Here are the items I used:

chocolate star sugar cookies with red white and blue frosting

Prepare your Pastry Bag

Once you have your cookies baked and cooled, make your frosting. You can use my cookie frosting or you can get 3 cans of frosting from the grocery store.

Divide the frosting into three bowls. Color one red, one blue and leave the other white.

Prepare your pastry bag. Here’s how:

  • The coupler has two parts: coupler and ring. Remove the ring and place the coupler in the pastry bag. Push it down as far as it will go.
  • Note where you need to cut the tip off the bag, then push the coupler up a bit, cut off the tip, and push the coupler back down. It should be almost even with the hole.
  • Place the desired tip on the coupler and place the ring over the top and screw it tight.

Then, fill your pastry bag and you’re ready to decorate.

star sugar cookies with red white and blue frosting

How to decorate 4th of July Cookies

To decorate the basic stars you can:

  • Outline the star with one color and fill it in with another, either by dragging your piping bag or making little stars.
  • Pipe a bunch of blue stars all over one of the cookies.
  • Write a U, S, A on three of the cookies
  • Cover the whole cookie with one color and then press it upside down in sprinkles to coat.

Tie-Dye Star

To make the large star with the tie-dye pattern, add all three colors to one piping bag and then swirl or pipe stars all over. Use this tutorial to make the swirled frosting.

You can also do the toothpick method: frost your cookie the color you want and then pipe stripes in other colors. Use a toothpick to drag through the stripes to create that criss cross pattern.

This one is my favorite! It’s best to do this pattern on a larger cookie.

To decorate the flag:

  1. Outline one star point and half another with blue frosting. Connect in the middle and fill it in.
  2. Next to the blue half, pipe a red half. On the star point to the right of that one, pipe white on half, then red on the other half, continuing, alternating the colors until all the points are decorated.
  3. Pipe white stars on top the blue section.

FAQs

How do you store sugar cookies?

Buttercream sugar cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The frosting will semi-dry, so be sure to stack them between sheets of wax paper so they don’t stick to each other.

How do you freeze decorated sugar cookies?

You can easily freeze these! Lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered with parchment, wax paper, or a silicone baking mat. Freeze. Once frozen, layer them in between sheets of paper towels in an airtight bag or container and store up to 3 months.

overhead shot of star shaped sugar cookies decorated with red, white and blue frosting

4th of July Cookies

5 from 2 votes
These easy decorated sugar cookies are fun and festive and easier to make than with flood or royal icing. Anyone can make these!
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 30 minutes
Yield 36 cookies, depending on size
Serving Size 1 cookies

Ingredients
 

  • 1 recipe Cut Out Sugar Cookies or storebought dough or
  • 1 recipe Chocolate Cut Out Cookies
  • 1 recipe sugar cookie frosting in recipe linked above or 3 cans vanilla frosting
  • Red and blue food coloring
  • Sprinkles optional
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Instructions

  • Bake cookies in star shapes as directed in recipe. Cool.
  • Divide frosting into thirds and color one red and the other blue. Place in pastry bags fit with small star tips.
  • Decroate cookies as desired. Let sit for 1 hour to semi-harden frosting. Frosting won't harden completely so be careful.
  • Store loosely covered for up to 4 days.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1cookies | Calories: 1kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 1mg | Sugar: 1g
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

These decorated 4th of July cookies are SO easy. Make my favorite cutout sugar cookie recipe and decorate them with red, white and blue frosting using these simple tips. You can make patriotic sugar cookies EASILY no matter your skill level.

Favorite 4th of July Recipes

Last Updated on June 27, 2023



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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