Star Spangled Cookie Centerpiece

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Need a simple but cute dessert/centerpiece for your 4th of July celebration? Make these red, white, and blue sugar cookies! They are so easy but look really impressive. I made mine into a cookie bouquet to use as a centerpiece, but they are just as cute without the stick. This is a great project to get the kids cooking as well!
Star Spangled Cookie Centerpiece
What you need:
1 recipe of sugar cookie dough (or you could cheat and buy sugar cookie dough)
red and blue food coloring, gel colors work better than regular food coloring.
3 star cookie cutters that fit inside one another, small, medium, and large.
candy/cookies sticks (if making cookie pops)

Method:
Divide cookie dough into three equal parts. Knead red food coloring to one piece, blue food coloring to one piece and leave the third piece plain. Add enough food coloring to make the dough a very bright red and blue. How much you need will depend on the amount of cookie dough you are coloring. Wear plastic gloves or put the dough into a small ziplock baggie to knead in the food coloring or you'll have festive colored hands as well! Yes I speak for experience...
Roll each piece of the cookie dough out to about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thickness and refrigerate until firm. I usually pop mine in the freezer for about 30 minutes. It's easier to work with the cookie dough when it's very cold.

First cut out your largest star.

Cut the center of the large star out with the medium sized star.

 

Next cut out a medium sized star out and insert it into the cut out in the center of the large star.

Finally, cut out the center of the medium star with the smallest star cutter. Cut a small star out and put it in the center of the medium star.

At this point you can either bake the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet, in a preheated 375 degree oven until just set, about 7 minutes, or before baking add lollypop sticks to make cookie pops. Bake the cookie pops at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes, as well. Allow the cookies to cool completely before picking up the cookie pops.

Place the pop stick on the backside of the cookie gently pressing it slightly into the cookie.

Take a small piece of cookie dough and cover the pop stick, pressing it gently into the cookie. Carefully turn the cookie over to bake. You have to work fast. If your dough is too warm to flip the cookie over, place the cookies into the freezer for a couple of minutes to let the cookie dough stiffen up a bit. I made all different sizes and color combos and baked them on the pop sticks.

 I wanted to create a centerpiece with the cookies so I fit a piece of flower arranging oasis into a small galvanized bucket. Then I arranged the cookie pops into the oasis and stuck a couple of festive napkins around the sides to hide the oasis. What a cute center piece for your Fourth of July table!