4th of July Star Sugar Cookies

by Micki
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These 4th of July star sugar cookies are your all ages crowd pleaser!

Imagine buttery, crisp delights shaped like stars, filled with vibrant candies that melt into a stained glass masterpiece upon baking. They’re perfect for adding that wow factor to your Fourth of July snack lineup.

4th of July sugar cookies recipe

Fourth of July Star Cookies

Let’s get straight to the heart of the matter with 4th of July star sugar cookies.

This recipe channels love and a knack for making the ordinary extraordinary. Picture this: a buttery, crisp cookie, shaped like a star, with a stained glass center that looks just as good as it tastes.

This recipe is your ticket to becoming the talk of the 4th of July bash—not just for the flavors, but for the stories it will inspire. Let’s make baking the highlight of your celebration, combining tradition with a twist of fun.

4th of July star glass sugar cookies

Ingredients for Star Sugar Cookies

Here’s what you’ll need to make these 4th of July sugar cookies.

The star cutout cookies themselves are a buttery, delicious sugar cookie. You’ll only need flour, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla.

Fourth of July star cutout cookies

For the gorgeous glass insert in the middle of the cookie, you’ll need: Jolly Rancher candies, one large star cookie cutter, and one mini star cookie cutter.

For the icing, you’ll need egg whites, powdered sugar, cream of tartar, vanilla, 3 piping bags with a number 2 tip, red food coloring, blue food coloring, three bowls, and three squeeze bottles.

fourth of July sugar cookies

How to Make Star Shaped Cookies

These Fourth of July cut out cookies aren’t hard to make, but they are more of a fun creative endeavor than simpler recipes like these Fourth of July perfect thumbprint cookies with sprinkles and icing, or strawberry thumbprint cookies (one of my favorites!).

Make these cookies in three steps:

  • cut sweet, buttery, sugar cookies into stars and fill with hard candies, and melt into an even layer for a gorgeous stained glass effect when baked.
  • sandwich fun, patriotic stars between two halves,
  • ice the top of each star glass sugar cookies with patriotic red, white, and blue icing.
fourth of July sugar cookies

4th of July Stained Glass Star Sugar Cookies

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes

These Fourth of July stained glass star cookies will wow anyone! Picture crisp, buttery delights in patriotic shapes with hard candies nestled inside. Once baked, these candies transform into a stunning stained glass effect.

Ingredients

  • Cookie Ingredients
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 bag of tropical Jolly Rancher candies, with white (Pineapple) separated. You’ll use only the white candies in these cookies.
  • star sprinkles
  • one large star cookie cutter
  • one mini star cookie cutter
  • Icing Ingredients
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 piping bags with a number 2 tip
  • 3 bowls
  • 3 squeeze bottles
  • red food coloring
  • blue food coloring

Instructions

Cookie Directions

  1. Add room temperature butter and sugar to medium bowl. Using a hand mixer, cream the soft butter with the sugar until smooth, and not grainy, or about five minutes.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
  3. Add four, baking soda, and salt, and mix until ingredients are thoroughly combined.
  4. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling wrap, and refrigerate for two hours or overnight.
  5. Pull the cookie dough out of the fridge. Dough should be stiff. Let it sit on the counter for about half an hour (still covered in plastic film) to soften up a bit.
  6. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  7. Roll the dough out on the cutting board, using flour to keep it from sticking.
  8. Use the large star to cut out the outside of your cookie, use the small star to cut out the center of the cookie, and remove the center star.
  9. Move the cut cookies to the parchment-lined cookie sheet, and place the cookies on the baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for six minutes.
  10. While the cookies are baking, unwrap the 30 white (pineapple) Jolly Rancher candies. Place them in a plastic bag, and crush with a rolling pin.
  11. As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, and still hot, place the equivalent of one Jolly Rancher candy in the star in the center of the cookie.
  12. Put cookies back into the oven for another 3-4 minutes, or until the candy is melted.
  13. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for half an hour.

While the cookies are cooling, make the icing.

Icing Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, and stir until combined.
  2. Using a hand mixer, mix on medium speed until stiff peaks form, about five minutes.
  3. If the icing is too thin, add 1/2 cup powder sugar.
  4. Split the icing into three bowls.
  5. Add a few drops of red dye into the first bowl, and stir.
  6. Add a few drops of blue into the second bowl, and stir.
  7. Leave the third bowl white.
  8. Scoop 1/2 of the icing into each of the three piping bags. One bag will be blue, one will be red, and one will be white.
  9. Add two tablespoons of water into each of the bowls to thin the icing. Pour the thinned icing into the squeeze bottles.

How to decorate your cookies

  1. Take your cooled stained glass cookie.
  2. Using one piping bag, pipe on a line around the cookie part of the bottom cookie.
  3. Add a few sprinkles on top of the glass (Jolly Rancher) on top of the bottom cookie.
  4. Place another cookie on top of the bottom cookie so that the icing sticks the two sides together.
  5. Do this for all remaining cookies, alternating between using red, white, and blue piping bags to use each color evenly.
  6. Let cookies sit for half an hour before decorating the top.
  7. Take the red piping bag and pipe a line across the top third of one cookie. Do not pipe over the glass center.
  8. Using the white icing, pipe a line across the middle third of one cookie. Do not pipe over the glass center.
  9. Using the blue icing, pipe a line around the bottom of the cookie of one cookie. Do not pipe over the glass center.
  10. Fill in the colors with the matching thinned icing colors in the bowls.
  11. Do this for the remaining cookies.
  12. Let cookies dry for 2 hours before enjoying!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 170Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 99mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 0gSugar: 13gProtein: 2g

All information and tools presented and written within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information should only be used as a general guideline.

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2 comments

Jenn March 4, 2024 - 5:27 am

These are the cutest! They look straight out of a fancy bakery!

Reply
JJ March 19, 2024 - 5:11 am

Fantastic recipe! They’re so pretty and patriotic.

Reply

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