RED WHITE AND BLUE TIE DYE RECIPES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Place jumbo paper baking cup in each of 12 jumbo muffin cups.
• In large bowl, beat cake mixes, water, oil and egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, then on medium speed 2 to 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally, until well blended.
• Divide batter among 3 bowls; tint 1 bowl with red food color and 1 with blue food color. Leave remaining batter plain. In each muffin cup, place 2 tablespoons red batter, 2 tablespoons blue batter and 2 tablespoons plain batter.
• Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, divide frosting among 3 bowls. Tint 1 bowl red and 1 bowl blue. Leave remaining frosting white.
• In large (16-inch) disposable decorating bag fitted with star tip, place spoonfuls of each color of frosting side by side, alternating colors and working up from the tip of the bag. Do not mix colors together. Starting at outer edge of cupcake and using constant pressure on bag, pipe frosting clockwise for 3 rotations (or however you desire) on each cupcake. Store loosely covered.

Steps:

• Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and salt and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla. Add flour and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours.
• Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
• If cookies become too soft to transfer to baking sheets, place in freezer on waxed paper for 5 minutes before continuing. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.
• Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and golden around edges, about 10 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 14 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Decorate with Royal Icing, then sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Let stand until icing sets. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.
• 1) Royal Icing: Using electric mixer, beat 3 1/4 cups powdered sugar with meringue powder and water until thick and shiny, adding more powdered sugar by tablespoonfuls if mixture is too thin to spread, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla. Divide icing into portions, if desired, and add different food coloring to each. Cover until ready to use.
• DIRECTIONS FOR RED, WHITE & BLUE 'TIE DYE' COOKIES: Divide icing into three bowls - keeping about half of the frosting white and dividing the other half into two portions. Color each of the other portions, one blue and one red.
• On a small plate, place a large spoonful of white icing. Using separate spoons for each color, drizzle a little of each of the other colors on top of the white. Using a toothpick, swirl the frostings together a bit to get a pretty marbled effect. Dip a cookie 'face down' into the frosting without moving it. Gently lift the cookie straight back up, set aside on a rack to set - or just eat while the frosting is glossy and wet.