My heart beats true for the red, white and blue

Yep....that's red, white and blue sugar cookie dough!  If you're looking for something to bring to a 4th of July get together or maybe pack in a care package for a soldier, these are really fun...and easy!

I originally planned to cover the tops of these in royal icing, but once they came out of the oven, I thought they didn't need much embellishment at all.  A  little royal icing, some sprinkles, you're set.

First, you'll need to make your sugar cookie dough and divide it into 3 equal (ish) sections.  Tinting dough is easy, but don't try it with your mixer.  Using AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color knead the color in with your hands....not on your counter.  I used AmeriColor Super Red and Royal Blue.  Just a few drops will do it.

Roll out the dough on separate pieces of wax paper.  Roll it thinner than normal, about 1/8 inch. Stack the colors on top of one another.  Roll lightly until the dough is the thickness you want.

Cut with floured cookie cutters, getting the shapes as close to each other as possible.

{I wasn't even sure this would work, but when the stars were cut out, I started to get excited.  There may be a tinted-layered-dough obsession starting at Bake at 350.  You've been warned.}

Place the cut-outs on cookies sheets and pop in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before baking.

If you're like me, you hate to see cookie dough go to waste.  This dough can be re-rolled ONE time for a psychedelic patriotic look.  If you try to re-roll it again, it starts to look muddied.

To decorate, make some royal icing and pipe only the edges (I used a #4 tip).  Sprinkle with white sanding or sparkling sugar....

....or non-pareils.

You know....I think they're pretty cute without the royal icing, too!

So, for all you Americans out there...have a wonderful Independence Day!  Be safe!

And for our international readers....we'll eat a hot dog (and cookie) for you!  You guys be safe, too!

I'll be linking these up to TidyMom's I'm Lovin' It linky party!  Come check out all the fun!

Soldier Boy

These cookies are special. A blog reader asked me to make them for her husband who was coming home from a year long deployment in Afghanistan. I know from watching my sister whose husband came home from Iraq last year what an emotional and happy time it is when they finally come home!!! I was happy that the cookies could be a just little part of it for this family.


Because I've never made soldiers before, I was nervous, but in the end...I'm a little in love with them. :)

All week, I've had that 1960's song by The Shirelles "Soldier Boy" running through my head....

Soldier Boy,
oh, my little soldier boy,
I'll be true to you....

Here's how to make them:

1. Using a #2 tip and olive green icing (AmeriColor Avocado mixed with Super Black and Lemon Yellow) pipe in the putline of the shirt, pants and hat.
   
2. With a #2 tip, pipe the outline of the face and hands using a flesh tone icing. (AmeriColor Copper/Fleshtone)
3. Thin olive green, ivory, brown (for the camouflage) and flesh tone icing to the consistency of syrup. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit several minutes.(AmeriColor Ivory and Chocolate Brown)
   
4. Stir gently to pop bubbles that have formed on top. Pour into a squeeze bottle and fill in outline of the face and hands with flesh tone. Use a toothpick to coax the icing into all corners and to edges.
5. Fill in the shirt and pants with olive green, ivory and brown. Use a toothpick to swirl slightly.
6. Let dry at least one hour.
7. Using a #1 tip, pipe hair in brown icing.
   
8. With the black icing and a #2 tip, pipe eyes on the face, make a belt and draw on shoes.
   
9. With red icing and a #1 tip, pipe on a smile. (AmeriColor Super Red)
   
10. With olive green icing and a #1 or 2 tip, pipe over the edges of the clothes and cap. Add button and pocket details to the shirt.
    
11. Let dry overnight and give to a soldier! :)
    

Welcome Home, Dale!!!

Want to support the troops? Check out these organizations:

• Operation Baking Gals
• the USO
  

July 4th cupcakes!

I really couldn't resist after seeing red, white and blue cupcakes here and here...and maybe somewhere else. The red, white and blue swirls of batter just looked too fun!

We had plans to meet our neighbors for the local 4th of July parade this morning, and I thought cupcakes seemed like a good way to start. It was only 9am, but hey, it's a holiday.

My son helped me with the batter (although, I think he had more fun eating them than making them). Just make any yellow or white cupcake batter, divide into 3 bowls and tint one red and one blue. (Use gel paste food coloring, and it doesn't take much at all.) The recipe I used comes from this book....Cupcakes! by Eleanor Klivans (love this book!). The link to the recipe is here; it's delicious!

Drop the batter by the tablespoonful into the cupcake liners. Some we swirled with a toothpick and others we left as is. Both looked really neat on the inside.

{I just loved the way these looked after inverting them out of the muffin tin!}

For the frosting, I did the same thing...tinted some of the frosting red and some blue. I put the blue and red frostings up the side of my icing bag and the white in the middle.

Hope you all are having a wonderful 4th of July! Get out there and see some fireworks!!!

♥Have you taken the Flavor-of-the-Month poll? Wondering what the heck I'm talking about?!?!?♥

Gearing up for the 4th…get your STARS on!

It's an age old dilemma….what to bring to the 4th of July cookout or any summer get-together?



{For the rest of the story, please visit my post over at Blissfully Delish! See you there!}

Operation Baking Gals

With everything going on these days....the election, the economy, the new season of Desperate Housewives....it's easy to forget that many of our soldiers are still away from their families and sacrificing for our country. When my brother-in-law was deployed to Iraq, my sister sent him something every day (I'm not exaggerating here), but sadly, some of the guys and gals don't get many...or any...packages from home.

Through Danielle's blog, Make No Little Meals, I found out about Operation Baking Gals. Here's a little information from their website:

"Baking GALS (GALS stands for Give A Little Support) is a group of volunteer bakers who bake and ship homemade goodies to our heroic troops that are currently deployed. Each soldier is "Hosted" by a blogger, and potential bakers are "recruited" from the bloggers own site as well as the GALS site. Each Host recruits between 20-25 bakers, meaning LOTS of goodies get delivered to our soldier...so many, in fact that he or she has plenty to share with their fellow troops!"

Just go to the Operation Baking Gals website and register (it only takes a minute...no long form to fill out), then join a team. I joined Danielle's team...Team Dani's Delightful Darlings. (I think there is a delay in showing up on the team list, so don't panic if your name doesn't show up right away. )

This is Round 4 of Operation Baking Gals with packages being shipped out from October 30th - November 10th.

Sign up and support our troops! (A side benefit..."testing" each batch of cookies before mailing!) :)

Stars for the 4th

If you're in need of something to bring to a 4th of July get-together, these cookies are worth a try! You can make them big like above or mini-stars like below.
For the Dotty Stars:

• Using a #3 tip, outline the star in white royal icing.
• Thin red and blue icing to the consistency of syrup and let sit covered with a damp dishtowel for several minutes. Run a rubber spatula through the icing to pop any air bubbles that have formed on top. (AmeriColor Super Red, Spectrum Royal Blue)
• Transfer thinned icing into squeeze bottles.
• Working with about 6 cookies at a time, fill in the cookie in the blue icing using a toothpick to coax into the corners.
• Once 6 or so are filled in blue, dot the red icing on top.
• Let dry 1 hour.
• Go over the border piping in white again, using the #3 tip.
• Let dry overnight.
• Using either warmed corn syrup or meringue powder mixed with water, "paint" over the raised border using a small paintbrush.
• Sprinkle with clear sparkling or sanding sugar.