4Th Of July Cookies Favorite Family Recipes

These 4th of July Cookies are the perfect treat to celebrate Independence Day! Not only are they delicious, but they also bring a spark of excitement with the Pop Rocks sprinkled on top. Kids absolutely adore the sensation of these popping candies… it’s like firecrackers bursting in their mouths! For the adults, fresh fruit makes a delightful and more sophisticated topping choice. It adds a refreshing burst of flavor and a colorful touch to the cookies. With this recipe, you can easily please both the young and the young at heart, making it a delightful treat for all ages during your 4th of July celebrations.

Ingredients for 4th of July Cookies

This easy-to-follow recipe combines simple pantry ingredients to make a cookie dough that is as versatile as it is delicious. With a few additional ingredients, you’ll have a heavenly cream cheese frosting that perfectly complements the cookies.

Butter – make sure it’s softened to room temperature. Shortening – this helps make the cookies softer and not spread as much, but you can substitute the ½ cup of shortening with another stick of butter. White sugar Powdered sugar Eggs Flour Vanilla extract – for an even deeper flavor, you can combine the vanilla with some almond extract. Baking soda Salt

For the cream cheese frosting:

Cream cheese Butter (room temperature) Vanilla Powdered sugar Optional: Use food coloring to make the frosting any color you like.

Sugar Cookies for Any Occasion

This simple sugar cookie base can be dressed up for any holiday or any occasion or anytime your sweet tooth strikes.

Use purple, orange and green sprinkles for Halloween Red hots and pink hearts for Valentine’s Day Pastel candies and sprinkles for Easter, Green and red sprinkles and candy for Christmas Red white and blue sprinkles, blue m&m’s or other red white and blue candies to make this a special 4th of July dessert.

Tips for Toppings

If you are topping your cookies with fresh fruit, wash and dry the fruit well before decorating your cookies. Also, add the fresh fruit just before serving. When the fruit sits on the cookie for too long, the moisture in the fruit will bleed onto the frosting of the cookie.

Cutting Out Shapes

This cookie recipe can easily be adapted for cut-out cookies. Star shaped cookies would be super cute! If you decide to go this route, after mixing, you will want to roll the dough into a ball after mixing and allow to chill in the fridge for little while. Remove from the fridge and roll out dough onto a floured surface using a rolling pin. Don’t roll them out too thin though– you want them to be chewy still. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Bake at 375 for about 9 minutes. Don’t overcook or they will be too hard. Store them in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator.

This recipe was originally published as “Firecracker Sugar Cookie Bars.” We have modified the recipe for sugar cookies, instead of bars, but don’t worry! We have our original bar recipe in the recipe notes below. The sugar cookie bars are a great way to go if you are short on time or just don’t want the oven on as long in the heat of the summer. I love making sugar cookie bars when feeding a crowd because they are just SO easy. READ MORE: 33+ Easy Dessert Ideas