How to Make 4th of July American Flag Sugar Cookies
These easy American flag sugar cookies are the perfect dessert for your next Fourth of July party!
The recipe for American flag cookies uses the same sugar cookie recipe as my 4th of July star cookies but you don’t even need cookie cutters! Instead, you’ll use a bench scraper or a knife to cut flag shapes out of the chilled and rolled dough. Most sugar cookies give the option to pipe frosting or spread frosting with an offset spatula but, in this recipe, you’ll need to pipe the frosting to get the flag’s white and red stripes.
And, although a few special tools are handy for these cookies (mostly for the frosting), the sugar cookie dough is an easy recipe that only calls for simple ingredients you likely already have on hand.
Ingredients to Make American Flag Sugar Cookies
- KAMUT® White Flour or other All-Purpose White Flour
- Baking Powder
- Fine Salt
- Unsalted Butter
- White Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Red and Blue Sprinkles (Blue Star Sprinkles, if Possible)
Tools to Make American Flag Sugar Cookies
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Medium Mixing Bowl
- Whisk or Dough Hook
- Stand Mixer fitted with the Paddle Attachment or Hand Mixer with a Large Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Plastic Wrap
- Bench Scraper or Knife
- Kitchen Scale
- Sieve or Fine Metal Mesh Strainer
- Piping Bag
- Piping Tip (I used Wilton 10)
All About Ingredients for American Flag Sugar Cookies
Flour
I use KAMUT® White Flour for the vast majority of my recipes, and I love it because of its nutritional profile and taste, but I understand that it isn’t easy to find at your regular, local grocery store, so I write all of my recipes for all-purpose flour as well. Learn more about KAMUT® Brand Wheat here.
Butter
You’ll notice a lot of my cookie recipes call for cold butter, but it’s always worth mentioning that I only use cold butter when I’m using a high-powered bowl-lift stand mixer. I’ve almost broken my tilt-head mixer using cold butter, and I simply don’t think it would work with a hand mixer. I always write recipes with the option for room temperature, softened butter, so you don’t need any fancy equipment.
The reason why I love cold butter in cookies is that it can reduce or eliminate dough chill time and allow me to make cookies on a whim.
That being said, even if you use cold butter for the sugar cookie dough, you will still need to chill the dough, and you will still need softened butter for the buttercream frosting.
Sprinkles
You will need red and blue sprinkles for this patriotic dessert and bonus points if you can find blue star sprinkles!
Powdered Sugar
I highly recommend a kitchen scale for powdered sugar because, volume-wise, it measures so differently before and after being sifted. And sifting is vital, so you end up with smooth buttercream.
How to Make American Flag Sugar Cookies
Prepare 2 baking sheets by lining each with a piece of parchment paper and set aside. Stir together the dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until completely smooth using a stand or hand mixer and then add the egg and vanilla, mixing after each addition. When this mixture is smooth, add the dry ingredients in one or a few batches. Add in a few batches if you are using a hand mixer or a small stand mixer.
When the flour mixture is incorporated, turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and place the dough ball in the fridge for 45 minutes (or up to 3 days). If you used cold butter, you can skip this step.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and transfer the dough ball to a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is just under ¼” thick then measure approximately 3 x 5 inch rectangles of dough. Place up to six flag cookies on each tray and place prepared baking sheets in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes or until the bottom edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
Let the cookies cool all the way on the tray (one of my tips for soft cookies – get more here) while you make the frosting.
How to Make Buttercream Frosting for American Flag Sugar Cookies
Weigh and sift powdered sugar and set aside.
Place softened butter and approximately half of the weighed and sifted powdered sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a bowl if using a hand mixer. Mix until the powdered sugar is incorporated, and then add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
Add salt and vanilla and mix on low until incorporated, and then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 4-6 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Buttercream is ready when it reaches the desired consistency. Mixing for longer will result in a lighter, fluffier frosting, which will be easier to pipe.
Fit a piping bag with a small round piping tip (I used Wilton 10). Secure the piping tip so that if you turned the piping bag upside down, it would not fall out. Use scissors to cut around the middle of the piping tip and pull off the plastic end of the piping bag.
Fill the piping bag with frosting and twist the end. Your top hand with squeeze the bag while the bottom hand will steer or draw.
How to Decorate American Flag Sugar Cookies
Tip: Place sprinkles on each cookie before you frost the next so the sprinkles stay in place.
Using the piping bag, draw a square of frosting in the top left corner of one flag cookie and add blue sprinkles or blue star sprinkles. Then draw four horizontal lines across the cookie. One near the top of the cookie next to the square for the stars, one in line with the bottom of the star square, and two more across the entire cookie.
Add red sprinkles to the stripes and lift and gently tap the cookie to remove excess sprinkles. It’s great to do this on a baking sheet. The undecorated strips in between serve as the white stripes.
American Flag Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough:
- 1 ⅓ cup KAMUT® White Flour (or 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
Buttercream Frosting:
- ½ cup butter
- 7 oz powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla
Toppings:
- ⅓ cup red and blue sprinkles (blue star sprinkles, if possible)
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Dough:
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until completely smooth. Add egg and mix until combined, then add vanilla extract and mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until the flour mixture is incorporated and a ball of dough starts to form and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- If you used room temperature butter or if you are making dough ahead of time, wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 45 minutes (or up to 3 days). Let it sit out until soft enough to roll out. *(see note)
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and roll out, evenly, until just under ¼” thick.
- Using a bench scraper or knife, cut 3×5" rectangles out of the dough, using up as much of the dough as possible. Take the scraps, form into a new ball of dough, and roll out again. Repeat this process until you’ve used up as much of the dough as possible, and only a tiny bit of dough scraps remain. If you notice the dough warming up or losing some structure, place it back in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, then resume rolling out and cutting.
- Place cut-out cookies at least an inch apart on each prepared cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet back into the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes or until the bottom edges are just starting to turn golden brown at the bottom edges.
- Transfer each baking sheet to a wire rack and let cookies cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting:
- Weigh and sift powdered sugar. Place softened butter and approximately half of the weighed and sifted powdered sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a bowl if using a hand mixer. Mix until the powdered sugar is incorporated, and then add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add salt and vanilla and mix on low until incorporated, and then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and mix for 4-6 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Drop a piping tip into the bottom of a piping bag. Secure a piping tip at the end of a piping bag, then, using scissors, cut around the middle of the piping tip and pull off the plastic end. Hold the bag with your non-dominant hand or place the bag in a large drinking glass to fill with frosting. Twist the bag and use your top hand to squeeze the frosting and your bottom hand to steer where you’d like to pipe frosting.
Decorating:
- Using the piping bag, draw a square of frosting in the top left corner of one flag cookie and add blue sprinkles or blue star sprinkles.
- Now draw four horizontal lines across the cookie. One near the top of the cookie next to the square for the stars, one in line with the bottom of the star square, and two more across the entire cookie.
- Add red sprinkles to the stripes and lift and gently tap the cookie to remove excess sprinkles. It’s great to do this on a clean baking sheet to easily collect and reuse excess sprinkles. The undecorated strips in between serve as the white stripes on the American flag.
