PATRIOTIC SUGAR COOKIES RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• In the mixing bowl, mix butter, egg, vanilla and sugar together until smooth.
• In a separate bowl combine baking powder with the flour and then add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be stiff.
• DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Scoop into tablespoon sized balls and place on a nonstick pan.
• Slightly flatten each ball with a spoon/spatula.
• Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and place sprinkles on the cookies. They should stick due to the cookies being warm.
• Let the cookies cool on the pan until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
• Serve & enjoy!

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping the bowl. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat or stir in flour.
• Divide the dough in half; divide one portion in half again. For the stars, tint one small portion of the dough with yellow food coloring. For the firecrackers, tint the other small portion of the dough with red food coloring. Leave the remaining half dough plain. Wrap the doughs separately, and chill them until they're firm (about one hour).
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the yellow portion of dough 1/8-inch thick. Using a 3-inch floured star-shaped cutter, cut out the star cookies. Roll the red portion of the dough 1/8-inch thick. Using a ruler and a knife, cut 3x1-1/2-inch rectangles for the firecrackers. Roll the plain dough 1/8-inch thick; cut it into firecracker or star shapes. (Make sure you have an even number of each cookie shape because you'll be stacking two of them together to make sandwich cookies.)
• Place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake them in a 375 degree F oven for 7 to 8 minutes or until they're light brown around the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven, and place them to cool on wire racks. Frost the bottoms of the plain cookies with vanilla frosting. Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of the crushed candy over frosting. Frost the bottoms of the remaining cookies and place them frosted side down on the candy-topped cookies.
• To decorate the cookies tint some of the extra frosting with red and/or yellow food coloring. Decorate the cookies with frosting, decorator gels, assorted crunchy candies, and colored sugars. For the firecracker cookies, attach a piece of red shoestring licorice between two cookies for the firecracker fuse. Store the cookies in a single layer in a covered container. Makes about 18 sandwich cookies.