4th of July Cookies From One Dependable Dough

• One creamed dough supplies every color, which means no matching separate recipes or guessing whether batches will spread alike. Chill the portions together, then roll and bake them in sequence.
• Gel coloring delivers saturated red and blue without adding much extra moisture, while the uncolored dough keeps the tray bright and balanced. Sanding sugar adds quick sparkle and a pleasant crunch.
• Each cookie begins at the same thickness and temperature, so the bake window is easier to manage. The dough also handles rerolling well, which helps when cutters leave extra stars.

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (227 g)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
• 1 large egg, room temperature (50 g)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (10 g)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (375 g)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch (16 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (2 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt (3 g)
• Red gel food coloring, as needed (4 g)
• Blue gel food coloring, as needed (4 g)
• 1 tablespoon milk (15 g)
• 1/3 cup red, white, and blue sanding sugar (67 g)

Ingredient notes

• Use unsalted butter softened until a finger leaves an indent without sinking through. Butter that is glossy or partly melted makes the dough looser and encourages wider cookies.
• Granulated sugar gives these cutouts crisp outer edges and a familiar vanilla-cookie texture. Do not swap in powdered sugar, which changes both the dough structure and the finished surface.
• Choose gel food coloring rather than liquid drops for the strongest red and blue shades. Start with a small amount, knead it in, then add more only if the dough still looks pastel.
• All-purpose flour provides enough structure for clean star points. Spoon it into the measuring cup and level it, or use the listed gram weight, so extra flour does not make rolling difficult.
• Cornstarch keeps the centers tender while baking powder gives a little lift. Neither ingredient needs a substitute here; together they help the cookies stay recognizable after baking.
• Sanding sugar is coarser than standard sprinkles and keeps its texture in the oven. Red, white, and blue sugar is convenient, but plain coarse sugar plus colored dough still makes a festive tray.

1. 1Cream butter

   Beat butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy, about two minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla, scraping the bowl once. Whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt separately, then mix into the butter mixture on low until dry streaks disappear.

2. 2Divide and color

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and divide it into three equal pieces. Leave one piece plain. Knead red gel coloring into one portion and blue gel coloring into another, using gloves or parchment if you want to avoid stained fingertips.

3. 3Chill portions

   Press each color into a flat disk about one inch thick, wrap it, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Set a timer before moving on; chilled dough rolls cleanly, while forgotten dough becomes overly firm and needs extra counter time.

   

4. 4Roll and cut

   Heat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll one disk at a time between parchment sheets to one-quarter-inch thickness. Cut stars, transfer them with a thin spatula, and gather scraps only once before rerolling.

   

5. 5Sugar the tops

   Brush each star very lightly with milk, then scatter sanding sugar over the surface. Keep colors separate while decorating if you want sharply defined red, white, and blue groups. Space cookies about one inch apart on the prepared pans.

6. 6Bake and cool

   Bake one pan at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges look set but have not browned much. Cool on the pan for five minutes, then move cookies to a rack. Repeat with remaining dough and let every cookie cool completely.

• Use parchment above and below the dough while rolling. It limits added flour, keeps the colors cleaner, and makes it easier to slide the rolled sheet onto a tray if the kitchen is warm.
• For evenly sized stars, roll every dough color to the same one-quarter-inch thickness. A pair of wooden rolling guides is useful, but two identical chopsticks placed beside the dough also work.
• Bake red, white, and blue cookies on separate pans when possible. The colors stay distinct, and you can remove a pan as soon as its edges set instead of waiting for a mixed batch.
• Decorate before baking rather than after cooling. A faint milk brush gives sanding sugar something to cling to, avoiding a separate icing step and keeping the cookies easy to stack.

Arrange the cooled cookies in color blocks on a large white plate, then place one small bowl of extra sanding sugar nearby only if you have room. They fit easily beside fruit, lemonade, and ice cream without requiring forks or a dessert station. For a potluck, stack six cookies in clear treat bags and tie each with ribbon. Expect about three cookies per person when the table also includes other sweets, or four when these are the main dessert.