4th of July Sugar Cookies

I love the Fourth of July and, even more so, when I am in a small town. The town my mom and dad grew up in always had an annual parade—there is something special about a small town parade because everyone feels like a participant rather than a viewer.

In order to get excited about the upcoming holiday, Alex helped me make some American flag cookies—they were not perfect, but they were fun to make (and eat later).

I used my basic sugar cookie recipe and royal frosting for the cookies.

Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS

 1 1/2 cups of butter, softened

 2 1/4 cups of white sugar

 4 eggs

3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

 5 cups of all-purpose flour

 2 teaspoons of baking powder

 1 teaspoon of salt

Original recipe makes 5 dozen

DIRECTIONS

1.          In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

2.          Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3.          Bake five to eight minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before decorating.

Royal Icing

INGREDIENTS

3 egg whites

4 cups of powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

1.          In a Kitchen Aid fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until almost frothy.

2.          Add in the powdered sugar and whisk on slow until smooth (you may need to add more or less powdered sugar or water to achieve desired thickness).

NOTE:  For sugar cookies, you want the icing to be thin enough that it will fall back on itself and smooth itself out, but not too thin so it will run off of the cookie.