Stars and Stripes Sugar Cookies for the 4th of July

These Stars and Stripes Sugar Cookies are perfect for the 4th of July. The hidden star shape inside the cookies is surprisingly easy to make, and I’ll show you all the tips and tricks you need to know to make these dazzling cookies.

🌟 How to Make Star Sugar Cookies

Oh say can you see…these super cute sugar cookies?! They’re crunchy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside, and best of all, have an eye-catching design of bright stripes and embedded stars. Obviously they’re appropriate for the Fourth of July, but you can switch up the stripe colors and the inside shape and make them for any occasion. Think pink and red stripes with a hidden heart for Valentine’s Day, or pastel stripes with a flower inside for Easter–the possibilities are endless!

These cookies were inspired by our super-popular Christmas Pinwheel Cookies, and originally they were just going to be red, white, and blue pinwheels. (And if you want to try that design, check out the Variations section below for instructions!) But instead, we took the same basic sugar dough and used it to create the stars and stripes design instead, perfect for patriotic potlucks and BBQs.

If you’re on a sugar cookie roll after making these, you’ll also love my Big Soft Sugar Cookies, Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies, and Watercolor Rose Sugar Cookies. Or get playful and make some Sugar Cookie French Fries!

🧾 What You’ll Need

Ingredients

Like many cookie recipes, these require just a handful of pantry staples, most of which you probably have on hand already. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when assembling the ingredients. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Butter: Your butter should be at room temperature to make these cookies. This means it’s pliable but cool–you don’t want it to be greasy and melty. I always recommend unsalted butter in baking, so you can control the precise amount of salt. If you only have salted butter, use that but omit the additional salt in the recipe until you have tasted the completed dough, then add additional salt if desired.
• Egg: The egg you use should be large size, and at room temperature. Tip: if you need to warm up an egg quickly, place it in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes. This won’t cook the egg, but will bring it to room temperature so it’s perfect for baking.
• Vanilla extract: Vanilla is the classic sugar cookie flavor, but you can experiment and add other extracts in addition to or instead of vanilla. Try almond, orange, or lemon!
• Food coloring: For the best results, you will want to use gel food coloring. It is more concentrated than typical water-based colorings, so you don’t have to use as much coloring to get strong, vibrant shades. I use and recommend Americolor gel coloring. For this recipe, I used Americolor Super Red and Americolor Royal Blue shades.
• Sprinkles: I used nonpareils for these cookies, but most sprinkles will work. Jimmies, nonpareils, and sparkling sugar are all great choices. Avoid any sprinkles that are too large, or made of chocolate or royal icing.

Equipment

The equipment list is pretty basic, but you will want to make sure you have the right size cookie cutters to achieve the look you see here. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• Circular cookie cutter: Grab a circular cookie cutter – the one I used is 2.25″, but anything from 2-2.5″ should work well. I own and love this set of circular cutters that gives me lots of options!
• Star cookie cutter: The size of the star is flexible, but you’ll just want to make sure that the cutter you use doesn’t come too close to the edges of the cookie. I have this star cookie cutter set and I used the one that is about 1.5″ wide.
• Baking sheets:Heavy-duty baking sheets will keep the bottoms of the cookies from burning and help cookies bake evenly
• Parchment paper: I never bake directly on my baking sheets–it’s all about the parchment, baby! Save time and cleanup by using silicone liners or parchment paper when baking cookies. I also roll my cookie dough out between sheets of parchment to avoid adding extra flour, which will make the cookies tough.
• Rolling pin: I like using a French rolling pin to roll out cookie dough, but whatever you have should work just fine.
• Mixer: a stand mixer or a hand mixer will both work in this recipe.

📋 Instructions

Here’s how to make these stars and stripes cookies, step by step! You can also check out the video for more help, and you can find printable instructions in the recipe card down below.

Make the cookie dough

• Combine the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Mix the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

• Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix until well-incorporated.

• With the mixer still on low speed, slowly add the flour and mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Stop the mixer, and finish scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
• The dough should be soft and supple but not sticky when you press it between your fingers.

Divide and color the dough

• Divide the dough into 3 parts, with one part twice the size of the other two. If you have a kitchen scale, the large portion should be 15 oz and the two smaller portions each about 7.5 oz. 
• Leave the large portion uncolored, and form it into a disc and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. 
• Use gel food coloring to color the other two portions red and blue. Wrap those in plastic as well, and refrigerate the dough for at least 45 minutes, until firm.

Roll out the dough

• Roll the red and blue doughs out between two sheets of parchment paper until they are rectangles ¼” thick, approximately 5” x 7” long. Try to avoid adding additional flour at this step, or else the cookies might be tough.
• Roll out the uncolored dough to a long rectangle 1/4″ thick, about 5″ x 14″. You can do this step now, or wait until later when you’re ready to cut out the circles.

Cut the dough into strips

• Cut the red and blue doughs into thin strips widthwise. Arrange the strips into a long rectangle, alternating the colors red-blue-red-blue, and pressing the strips together as you go.
• Once all of the red and blue strips are arranged into one long rectangle, place a piece of parchment over the top and gently roll over the top so they adhere together. Refrigerate again until firm.

Cut out cookie dough circles

• Cut 2.25″ circles from each rectangle of dough. You should get about 12 circles of each type. You can re-roll the uncolored dough to make more cookies, if you’d like. (You can also re-roll the striped dough, but you will lose the stripe pattern.)

• Roll the edges of the cookies in sprinkles and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. If the sprinkles don’t stick well, you can lightly brush the edges with egg whites or corn syrup.
•  Take a star cookie cutter and cut a star from the middle of each cookie.

•  Press the plain stars into the middle of the striped cookies, and add striped stars to the plain cookies. 
• Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, until they have spread and puffed, and no longer have a raw shine in the center.

💭 Variations

• Change the dough colors and shape to make them suit any holiday. How about red and green stripes with a Christmas tree shape? Or orange and black with a pumpkin?
• Instead of sprinkles, roll the cookies in finely chopped nuts or toasted coconut. You can also bake them without rolling the edges in anything!
• Mix up the flavorings–add some almond in addition to the vanilla (start with 1/2 tsp and add more to taste), or swap in coconut instead. Or, add some lemon or orange zest and extract!
• Pinwheel variation: divide the dough into 3 equal parts, leaving one plain and coloring the remaining two red and blue. Follow these instructions for creating red, white, and blue pinwheel cookies.

💡 Tips and FAQs  

❤️🤍💙 Red White & Blue Desserts

• American Flag Layer Cake for the Fourth of July
• Homemade Fruit Popsicles
• Easy Homemade Lollipops
• Strawberry-Dusted Shortbread Stars
• Exploding Cupcakes