4th of July Cookies
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Declare your Independence this 4th of July by celebrating with my Red-White-and-Blue 4th of July Cookies!
They are soft, thick, and gooey on the inside and have a golden brown, slightly crisp, and a festive red-white-and-blue color on the outside. Oh, and wait…they are also filled with lots of milk chocolate chips!
If you have ever made my famous Krolls Kookies recipe before you’re going to love these cookies because this recipe uses that recipe as the base. ?
The only difference is this recipe adds in gel food coloring to get those intense colors of the American Flag replicated in your cookies! So fun!
I used Betty Crocker’s gel food coloring to get the brilliance of color without having to use a ton of liquid food coloring. It really makes all the difference. Liquid food coloring is great when you are going after those pastel colors, but these 4th of July cookies definitely scream “I’m proud to be An American” with their bold red and blue colors.
These festive cookies are easy to make and can be made ahead of time so you are not in the kitchen with the oven on during the 4th of July.
They are absolutely perfect when celebrating our Declaration of Independence, but they also make the perfect Labor Day dessert in September, are so patriotic when honoring our military on Veteran’s Day in November and on Memorial Day in May! If you are looking for more ways to celebrate with food this 4th of July, try my funfetti cookies bars with red white and blue sprinkles, my funfetti cookies with festive sprinkles or these M&M cookies with red, white and blue M&M’s!
Why This Recipe Works
- It’s an easy dessert to make when feeling patriotic!
- This is a no chill cookie recipe, so it is quick to make.
- Great make ahead recipe.
- Easy to freeze so you can pick a day when the temperatures aren’t too high to bake in the kitchen.
- These cookies are big enough to share or to have left-overs!
Ingredient Notes
For the ingredient measurements and entire recipe, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the blog post where the recipe card is located.
- All purpose flour: Be exact when measuring and make sure you use all-purpose flour since it makes a cookie with a soft, slightly chewy interior and a crispy exterior.
- Cake Flour: If you’ve been around my site for any length of time you know I love making my cookies with a combination of cake flour and all-purpose flour. Cake flour is finer, softer and lighter than All-Purpose Flour and I find using a mix of both types of flour results in the most perfect cookies. You can find cake flour in most grocery stores, usually on the top shelf.
- Cornstarch: key ingredient to making thick, big cookies.
- Eggs and egg yolks: they don’t need to be at room temperature (yay!)
- Unsalted butter: I like using unsalted butter so that I can control the flavors in my cookies. If you use salted butter, it may affect the saltiness of your cookies. Consider reducing the amount of added salt if you use salted butter.
- Chocolate chips (milk, dark or semi sweet): I usually use milk chocolate in these cookies, but feel free to use your favorite.
- Food coloring: I used gel food coloring to create a very vibrant red and blue color in the cookies. It’s concentrated so it might be hard to mix into the dough, compared to liquid food coloring, but just mix mix mix and it will come together. AmeriColor has a good product for the red and blue colors!
Step by Step Directions
For the full recipe instructions, scroll down to the bottom of the blog post to the recipe card.
- Make the chocolate chip cookie dough.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal sections.
- Add blue food coloring to one section, red to another and leave the third as is.
- Form the 3 sections of dough into long logs, about 15 inches long.
- Place them on plastic wrap or parchment paper, wrap and roll the 3 sections together to form one uniform log. It will be big!
- Slice a section of dough, roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake, add more chocolate chips on top and edible festive star sprinkles.
Expert Tips and Variations
- Just like my Krolls Kookies, these are big cookies! Do not over bake, and make sure you let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Feel free to make these cookies smaller. Just remember that you may need to bake them for a minute or two less depending on how small you make them.
- Spoon and level flours by using a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and use the back of a knife to level off the top of it.
- If your cookies are coming out flat or spreading, you actually might need to add a few tablespoons more flour to the recipe.
- The gel colors can be changed up if you have doing a party with a color theme. You can even do red and green for Christmas. The color options are endless, and the cookies will always be delicious!
FAQ
Can I make these gluten free?
Of course! Replace both the All-Purpose flour and Cake flour with: Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour . I tested this & cookies are very similar in taste and appearance and a great option for those who need a GF cookie.
Do I have to use cake flour?
I love the texture it gives the cookies, but you can just use all purpose flour in its place. This goes for most all of my cookie recipes!
How can I make homemade cake flour?
To make homemade cake flour, you’ll need 14 Tbsp. All-purpose flour and 2 Tbsp. corn starch. Mix these together and sift them twice to get them fully mixed and aerated. This will make ~1 cup cake flour.
Start by adding a small amount of gel food coloring to the cookie dough. You can always add more gel to get a deeper color, be generous with it. Remember that the cookies will bake up a bit lighter in color. Most important, use a gel food coloring, not the liquid.
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Gel food coloring (classic colors)
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed (dark or light)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 cups milk chocolate chips (or less if desired)
- red and blue gel food coloring
- edible glitter stars
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl: all purpose flour, cake flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups cake flour, 2 tsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt
- Place the cubed butter and sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer and secure the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on and cream until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed, 1 cup brown sugar, packed (dark or light), 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract and blend until mixed. Use a rubber spatula to knock off mixture if any is sticking to the sides of the bowl and mix again.2 large eggs, 2 large egg yolks, 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips and mix just until combined.3 cups milk chocolate chips (or less if desired)
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Divide the cookie dough into 3 equal sections. I like to use a scale for this to make sure they all weigh the same.
- Add red food coloring to one section, blue to another, and leave the third section as is. Mix until it is incorporated throughout the dough. Add enough food coloring to get a nice deep red and blue color. Adding too little will make the cookies look pastel. If you feel the dough has gotten warm or sticky and hard to work with, refrigerate it for a few minutes.red and blue gel food coloring
- Roll each dough section into a long 15 inch log and place next to each other on plastic wrap or parchment paper. Wrap and roll the cookie dough logs so it makes 1 big uniform log. Cut a section of the dough for the size cookie you want, roll into a ball and place on the prepared cookie sheet. (6 cookies to 1 sheet is what I normally do). This recipe will make 24 small cookies or 12 very large cookies!
- Bake for 10 minutes or just until the edges begin to brown. Gently press more chocolate chips on top of the cookies while they are warm, if desired. Let the cookies continue to cook on the cookie sheet for about 5-10 minutes after you remove them from the oven, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Decorate with edible glitter stars and enjoy!edible glitter stars
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Notes
- Feel free to make the cookies smaller in size. You may need to bake for a minute or so less since they are smaller.
- This recipe makes a lot of cookies, you can easily cut the recipe in half to make 6 giant cookies or 12 smaller cookies.
- Storage: If you store them in an air-tight container they will last at room temperature for 3-5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
- Make ahead: you can freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months. I suggest shaping the cookie dough into balls as you would when preparing to bake them. Place them on a silicone or parchment-lined sheet to freeze then store in freezer safe baggies until ready to bake. Let them come to room temperature prior to baking as directed.
- This recipe idea was inspired by Cookies and Cups Patriotic Cookies.
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
The cookies stayed in a ball shape after they baked. I put them in the oven for an extra minute (11 minutes total) but that did not do anything about the shape. They turned out very dry and doughy, and not soft or chewy at all, like I prefer them. I wonder if this has happened to anyone else. Other cookies I make get flatter in the oven. Does this mean there was too much flour/cake flour? For a similar number of cookies from another recipe, I use about 1.5 less cups of flour.
Hello! Thank you for making my recipe! So sorry this happened. This recipe is based off my viral chocolate chip cookie recipe: https://krollskorner.com/recipes/desserts/krolls-kookies/ and it doesn’t create a thin and flat cookie, but they do spread more than shown in your photo. I am wondering if you added too much flour. Did you spoon and level the flour?
These cookies are quick, easy and taste wonder5. Everyone that are one raved about them.