Fireworks Cookies

About a week before the 4th of July, I was standing in line at The Fresh Market when I saw a copy of Martha Stewart Living with these cookies on the cover. "Keep those in mind," I said to myself.

Martha Stewart's Fireworks Cookies 

The next morning these cookies taunted me further when Martha appeared on the Today Show to demonstrate how to decorate them. "That's it. I have to TRY to make them." If you watch the clip, you'll see where Martha and Ann Curry struggle a bit to make the initial circles with the red and blue royal icing. In the version that I made, I substituted red and blue gel icing for the royal icing. If you plan to stack the cookies, you may want to stick with the royal icing - as the gel icing never completely hardens.

Fireworks Cookies with Martha Stewart on the Today Show

Here they are:

Now I can't wait for Halloween... I'm going to try using black, orange and white in order to make Spiderweb Cookies!

Ingredients

• FOR THE COOKIES

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Coarse salt
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• FOR DECORATING THE COOKIES

  • Red, White, and Blue Royal Icing

  
  
  

  
  

  Directions

  1. Make the cookies: Sift flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a large bowl.
  2. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, then vanilla. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour.
  3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies using a 1 3/4-, 2 1/4-, 2 3/4-, or 3 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, rerolling scraps once. Transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
  4. Bake until edges just start to brown, 17 to 19 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
  5. Decorate the cookies: Pipe an outline of white icing around edge of 1 cookie, leaving a 1/4-inch border, then "flood" with more white icing to cover.
  6. Immediately pipe a red or blue dot in the center of cookie. Then pipe concentric rings of colors around the center dot (using the same color as the dot, or alternating colors).
  7. Immediately drag a toothpick through the colors to create bursts, starting from the center dot and working toward the edge, then alternate dragging inward and outward as you work around the cookie. (Or drag around the cookie in 1 direction or curve the lines for a pinwheel effect.) Let dry. Repeat with remaining cookies and icings.
     
     
     Many thanks to Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living and the Today Show for all the inspiration! Happy baking everybody!