Beginner Friendly 4th of July Cookie Platter

The Fourth of July is quickly approaching and I have the perfect 4th of July cookie platter to share with you.

This 4th of July cookie platter is arranged like the American flag with red, white, and blue buttercream frosting on soft, vanilla sugar cookies. Don’t worry, these buttercream sugar cookies are beginner-friendly.

Of course, this American flag cookie platter would also be a wonderful dessert on Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, or any other day you want to celebrate America.

Learn how to decorate these 4th of July cookies following the tutorial below.

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Part 1: Gathering the Supplies for the 4th of July Cookie Platter

To create these American flag sugar cookies, you will want to gather:

• Cookie platter/tray
• 3 Icing bags
• 3 Couplers
• One Wilton #5 tip
• Star cookie cutter – I got mine here
• Red, blue, and white gel food dye *white is optional but recommended
• White confetti sprinkles or white star sprinkles
• Ingredients for a crusting buttercream & sugar cookie dough – found below in recipe card

Part 2: Baking the Cookies and Setting up the Icing Bags

1. Roll, cut out, and bake your star sugar cookies according to the recipe in the recipe card below. My cookie cutter size yielded 16 star cookies.
2. Make your buttercream icing and separate it into three bowls:
   • One bowl will contain about a quarter cup of the frosting; dye this bowl blue.
   • Separate the rest of the buttercream into two bowls; one will be dyed red and one white (or undyed if you prefer to not use white dye).
3. Set up your icing bags as follows:
   • Place a coupler into each bag and fill with buttercream. You do not need to attach any tips yet.

Part 3: Decorating the American Star Sugar Cookies

1. 1. Arrange your cookies onto your cookie platter to determine how many cookies you will need to represent an American flag. I did four rows of four cookies. Then, count and write down how many red cookies and white cookies you will need. You will only need one blue cookie.
   2. Attach the tip #5 to the bag of frosting with the blue buttercream. Outline and fill in one star cookie using the back & forth piping method. I teach this method in my beginner online cookie decorating class. If you prefer, you can also apply with an offset spatula and smooth the frosting onto the cookies. 
   3. Place white confetti sprinkles or white star sprinkles onto the blue sugar cookie.
   4. Remove/rinse/dry the tip #5 from the blue bag of buttercream and attach it to the red bag. Outline and fill in all of your red stars. I ended up with seven red stars to make my 4th of July cookie platter.
   5. Remove/rinse/dry the tip #5 from the red frosting and attach it to the white bag of icing. Outline and fill in all of your white stars. I ended up with eight white stars.
   6. Allow the cookies to form a crust, for 8-12 hours. Then, arrange the cookies onto the cookie platter, overlapping them slightly if needed to fit the platter.

This Fourth of July cookie platter is so easy and really impresses a crowd. I’d love to know in the comments below, what 4th of July traditions do you partake in?

Make sure to follow me on YouTube for more cookie tutorials as well! Happy decorating!

Easy 4th of July Cookie Platter

Red, white, and blue, this 4th of July cookie platter is a beginner friendly cookie tray that impresses everyone at the 4th of July party. Soft vanilla sugar cookies are topped with colorful buttercream frosting, representing the American flag. This cookie platter is also perfect for Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, or anytime you want to celebrate America.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: 4th of July, 4th of July Buttercream Sugar Cookies, 4th of July Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 2 hours hours

Crusting/Drying Time: 8 hours hours

Total Time: 10 hours hours

Servings: 16 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutter

Author: Leah Buehler

Equipment

• Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
• Rubber Spatula
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Medium Sized Mixing Bowl
• Lined aluminum cookie sheet parchment paper or silicone baking sheet
• Rolling Pin
• Star cookie cutter
• 3 Icing bags with couplers in them
• Wilton tip #5
• Cookie platter

Ingredients

Buttercream Frosting

• ½ cup room temperature unsalted butter 4 ounces
• ½ cup room temperature salted butter 4 ounces
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1-3 tbsp. whole milk
• blue, red, and white gel food dye

Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup cold salted butter cubed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 cups all purpose flour measured with the scoop & level method
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

• Remove all of the butter from the refrigerator. You will make the sugar cookies first but the butter for the frosting needs to come to room temperature before mixing.

Sugar Cookies

• Preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare an aluminum cookie sheet by placing either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on it.
• In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and mix together. Set this aside.
• Cube a cup of salted butter and then, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the cubed butter with the granulated sugar. Mix until creamed together well.
• To the stand mixer, add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
• Slowly add in the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl to the stand mixer.
• Roll the dough out to 3/8" thick and use the cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the tops of the cookies no longer look wet. When baking the cookies, only bake 6-8 cookies at a time to leave proper space between each cookie to cook without spreading. Overcrowding the cookie sheet will cause spread.

Buttercream Frosting

• In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature salted and unsalted butter and mix on high until light and fluffy.
• Mix in the powdered sugar little by little. Add in the vanilla extract and milk about halfway through adding the sugar to help the frosting come together. Start with one tablespoon of milk and work up to three if needed, depending on the consistency you want. I like to aim for a peanut butter consistency or thinner.
• Dye about a quarter cup of the frosting blue. Divide the rest of the frosting and dye half of it red and the other half white. Place each color into an icing bag with a coupler.

Decorating & Arranging the 4th of July Cookie Platter

• First, arrange the unfrosted cookies onto the platter so you know how many you will need to fill the flag. I was able to make 16 cookies so I did four rows of four cookies. This gave me one blue cookie, seven red cookies, and eight white cookies.
• Attach the tip #5 to the bag of frosting with the blue buttercream. Outline and fill in the star using the back & forth piping method.
• Place white sprinkles (circles or stars) onto the blue star cookie before it dries.
• Remove/rinse/dry the tip #5 from the blue bag and attach it to the red buttercream bag. Outline and fill in all of the stars that will be red.
• Remove/rinse/dry the tip #5 from the red frosting and place it onto the white frosting. Outline and fill in all of the stars that will be white.
• Allow the cookies to crust/dry for 8-12 hours before arranging on the cookie tray. If you won't be stacking the cookies, but rather laying them flat next to each other, you do not need to wait for the cookies to dry before plating and presenting.

Save the Tutorial for This 4th of July Cookie Platter for Later

Use one of the images below to pin this tutorial for American flag sugar cookies to your 4th of July party board on Pinterest. Alternatively, use any of the social share icons on the top of the page to share it to your favorite social media site.