How To Make Fourth of July Fireworks Cookies

We are so excited to welcome back our friend and brand ambassador Bridget Edwards from Bake at 350! Bridget has been a guest on Sweetalk before, sharing her cookie decorating expertise on the popular Conversation Heart Cookies and Ribbon Easter Egg Cookies. This time she's here to show us how to decorate fireworks cookies just in time for the Fourth of July. And now, here's Bridget! Time to break out the red, white, and blue icings. I love all of the festive decorations for the 4th of July. Red, white, and blue looks so crisp, so classic, and so patriotic. It’s only fitting that there are matching fireworks cookies for your Independence Day soiree. What you’ll need to make fireworks cookies:

• Imperial Sugar Classic Cut-Out Sugar Cookie recipe
• Star and fireworks cookie cutters
• Imperial Sugar Royal Icing recipe
• Gel paste food colorings: black, orange, yellow, red, white, blue
• Piping bag
• #2 icing tip
• Squeeze bottles
• Toothpicks
• White star sprinkles
• Meringue powder
• Food-only paintbrush
• White sparkling sugar

[Note: you may need to double or triple the cookie and icing recipes depending on the number and size of your cookies.] Roll the cookies to 3/4” thickness. Cut out, bake, and cool completely before icing. Make, divide, and tint the royal icing. Make black, orange, two shades of yellow, red, white, and blue. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of each icing bowl to prevent crusting. Place the black icing in a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip. Outline all of the cookies. Thin the orange and yellow icing with water, a teaspoon at a time, stirring gently between each addition. The icing should be the consistency of glue and a ribbon of icing dropped back on itself will disappear in a count of “one-thousand one, one-thousand two.” Thicker is ok, but if your icing is thinner consistency, stir in sifted powdered sugar. Cover the thinned icing with a damp dishtowel for a few minutes. Stir gently with a silicone spatula and pout into squeeze bottles. Fill in the stars and top of the fireworks with the icings, starting with the orange and working inward to the lighter yellow. Use a toothpick to guide the orange icing all the way to the edges. Place a toothpick in the center of the star and drag out toward the corners. Thin the red, white, and blue icings as described above. Pour into squeeze bottles. Fill in sections of the outlines firework. On the blue icing, place white star sprinkles. Use a toothpick to guide into place if needed. For the stripes, fill in the section with white icing. (Do this for about 6-8 cookies at a time.) Go back to the first cookie filled and add red icing on top of the white. Let the icing dry uncovered for 6-8 hours, or overnight. Once completely dry, mix 1/2 teaspoon meringue powder with 1/2 teaspoon water. Use a small paintbrush to paint the mixture onto the stars and tops of the fireworks. Sprinkle on the sparkling sugar and shake off the excess. (I do this over a basket-style coffee filter. It catches excess sugar and acts as a filter of sorts to transfer back into the bottle.) Boom! You’re finished! Happy 4th of July! Save some fireworks cookies…and a sparkler…for me!