Red White Blue Cookies

These red white blue cookies are a great dessert for the 4th of July or something you can whip up with your kids as a fun colourful sweet treat.

While cakes and pies are usually a staple when it comes to big celebrations, the simplicity and ease of cookies make them very appealing and irrespirable. That’s why they’re the first to disappear from the table.

You just grab one and continue to party on!

While I’m a big fan of chocolate chip cookies (triple chocolate chip cookies are heavenly), I’ve decided to go for the vanilla version and use food colorants to get that festive look.

The crunchiness of these red white and blue cookies keeps that classic vanilla flavor and combined with the velvety, creaminess of the buttercream, make an excellent treat for any occasion.

Do I really have to use food colorants?

If you are a bit iffy about using food colorants, you can opt for some fruit syrup, but it is kind of hard to get that bright blue hue from blueberries, as they will lean toward a purplish tint.

To get those vibrant colors, we recommend you use gel food coloring instead of liquid colorant. You use less of it and you don’t have to worry about the red turning into pink after baking.

Do I have to skip the chocolate chips?

If you really feel that your cookie is not complete without some chocolate chips inside the dough, you can totally add them in. You can skip on making the buttercream if you feel it is too much for your taste. You can even toss in some blue and red M&Ms to stick to your patriotic theme.

Making the cookies

The basic cookie dough for this recipe is easy to make. In a bowl, you first cream the butter and sugar together until you get a fluffy texture. After which, you pour your egg and milk. Some leave out the egg, but I believe the egg binds everything together nicely. Then you add your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix everything with a spoon and at this point, you can incorporate your chocolate chips.

Now divide the cookie dough into three parts. One part you color with red gel icing color and the other with blue. The third one you leave white to get the whole American flag.

Roll each part of dough separately and then place on a plastic wrap. Place each log of dough next to each other and wrap the plastic cling to create a sort of salami-like shape.

Take off the plastic wrap and cut your log of dough into tablespoon-sized cookies.

Place the cookies on a tray lined with parchment paper and let them bake just before the edges start to get a brown tint.

Whip up a classic vanilla buttercream, separate into a half and two quarters like with the dough and color it with red and blue. Color a quarter of it for blue and the other red and leave the rest white.

Using a piping bag to get that nice swirl and color distribution to your frosting, pipe half of your cookies and place the others to create red, white and blue cookie sandwiches.

 

Red white blue cookies – recipe

What you’ll need:

For the cookies

  • 1 3/4 cups (228g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup (207g) sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, room temperature
  • Red and blue gel food colorants

For the buttercream

  • 1 1/4 cups (280g) unsalted butter
  • 5 cups (575g) powdered sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp French or Bourbon vanilla extract
  • 1–2 tbsp milk
  • Red and blue gel food color

Decorations

  • Star Sprinkles
  • Red and Blue M&Ms

 

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (190°C). Line your tray with parchment paper or coat it with some non-stick spray.
  • Add your dry ingredients – flour, baking powder and salt – and place them in a bowl.
  • in another bowl, beat your sugar and room-temperature butter for 3 to 4 minutes until you get a light and fluffy cream.
  • To your buttercream, add the egg and milk and mix until it is homogenized.
  • Add in your dry ingredients and using a spatula mix some more until everything is incorporated.
  • At this stage, you can add some chocolate chips or M&Ms to your dough.
  • Divide your cookie dough into three parts. In a bowl, add one part of the dough and add the red gel icing color.
  • In another bowl, take another third of the dough and mix in the blue colorant.
  • Roll each part of dough separately until you get three long logs. On a plastic wrap, place each log next to each other and smush them together to get one big log.
  • Take out the plastic wrap and cut it into cookie-sized slices.
  • place on the lined baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes.
  • Let the cookies cool down for 2-3 minutes before moving them to a plate.
  • For the frosting, beat the butter until smooth.
  • Add in the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
  • Add the vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of milk and whisk some more to get that smooth consistency.
  • Divide the frosting into half and two quarters. The half will stay white. Color a quarter of all the frosting with red color and the other quarter with blue.
  • Add all the frosting colors in a piping bag. Pipe the frosting using a star shape tip between two cookies.
  • Add start sprinkles or other red and blue mini candies if you want to make your red white and blue cookies even more festive.

Now you have a quick and fun recipe that you can make with your kids this 4th of July. These red white and blue cookies are moist, crunchy and buttery, and will surely be gone in an instant the second they are placed on the table.

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