4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies

4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies are the perfect patriotic treat for your summer party. Soft & chewy with hints of almond flavor, these cookies are sure to be a hit!

Summer Cookouts and 4th of July Parties

The 4th of July is quickly approaching. With this U.S. holiday comes many celebrations in the form of parties, cookouts, and fireworks. It is also what many consider to be the (unofficial) start of summer. By this point, the year is half over. It seems crazy that we’re already halfway through June, doesn’t it? In many ways, it feels as if the year has just begun!

When thinking about what to make for the upcoming patriotic holiday, I knew that red, white, and blue were a must for incorporating into the treat. It also had to be something that would withstand the hot weather, as many people spend hours upon hours outside with tables set up featuring all of the cookout food options.

That’s when I remembered many years ago having an almond sugar cookie that was absolutely delicious! It was subtly sweet with hints of almond flavoring. They’re also incredibly easy to incorporate colors into. Better yet, they can sit out for hours and withstand the hot days with drive-by grabs from whatever food tables are set up throughout the entire day and into the evening.

Making 4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies

When making your 4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies, using a stand mixer would be the easiest way to make your dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can certainly mix your dough by hand…it just might take a little bit longer. You’ll want to start by creaming your sugar and butter until they are well-mixed.

Next, add your extracts and egg, mixing them in until just combined. Overmixing can affect the overall quality of your final baked product.

When making any baked product, I always mix in the dry ingredients, minus the flour, together to make sure that they get incorporated well throughout the dough/batter. Maybe it’s just me, but I always worry that 1 tsp of whatever ingredient and several cups of flour all at once won’t distribute the small ingredient evenly. ( sorry…squirrel moment! )

Anyways, add your corn starch, baking powder, and salt and mix them in until incorporated. Now you’re ready for your flour. This recipe uses a lot of flour! I found it easiest to add the flour in 1/2 cup – 1 cup batches at a time and mix each round of flour until it is no longer visible throughout your dough. Your dough is now ready for food coloring. Yay!

Adding Coloring and Making Your Dough Log

Now it’s time for the fun stuff! For the sake of the 4th of July holiday, I decided to make my cookies red, white, and blue. You can absolutely make this recipe for any occasion and use different colors to meet your wants and needs.

I found it easiest to separate the dough out into three smaller bowls, getting each bowl an even(ish) amount of dough. One bowl will remain untouched, one will get red food coloring, and one will get blue food coloring. I started with about 7 drops of blue and 7 drops of red and mixed them until the coloring in each bowl was well-incorporated throughout the dough. Depending on the shade you are going for, add 2-3 drops more at a time and mix them in until you reach your desired shade of red and blue.

Now, on a sheet of parchment paper ( about 18″ ), start pinching off pieces of dough to form a log. Make your log roughly 15″ long, alternating between the red, white, and blue dough. Once you reach 15″, start building your log up by adding a 2nd and 3rd layer.

Once you are out of dough, roll up your log in the parchment paper. I cupped my hands around the log to smooth it out and gently ‘rolled’ it to form it. I found by using my cupped hands to smooth the dough up and down and from side to side (top and bottom of log), it came out really nice.

Once your log is smooth, transfer it to the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to two hours. You’ll want your dough log to be firm but not dried out and crumbly.

Baking your 4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies

After the allotted time has passed, remove your dough log from the fridge. Cut slices that are about 1/3″ thick and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. On a standard sized sheet, you can comfortably fit 12 cookies. If you have the an extra-large baking sheet, you can fit 18 cookies.

I found that about 12-13 minutes was the perfect baking time to bake the cookies throughout, yet still leave them soft and chewy. Oven times may vary, but mine still looked slightly ‘shiny’ in sports when I took them out after 13 minutes. Wait about 8-10 minutes before transferring your cookies to a wire cooking rack.

A Yummy Treat for Your Summer Celebration

4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies are a fun, festive way to kick off your summer celebrations. Themed for the holiday, they’ll be a great addition to any picnic table. So what are you waiting for? Whip up a batch for your July 4th get-together and watch them quickly disappear!

If you’re a cookie monster that loves cookies, check out my recipes for Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies and Chocolate Dipped Meringue Cookies!

Print Recipe

4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies

(21 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Loading...

Cookies

Serves: 30-36

Cooking Time: 12 minutes

4th of July Almond Sugar Cookies are the perfect patriotic treat for your summer party. Soft & chewy with hints of almond flavor, these cookies are sure to be a hit!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Red and Blue Food Coloring

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 350° F.

2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix until just incorporated.

3

Mix in the corn starch, baking powder, and salt.

4

Add the flour in 1/2 cup increments, mixing in until just incorporated after each addition.

5

Split the dough into 3 bowls, keeping each bowl as even as possible

6

Take one of the dough mounds from one of the bowls and put it back in the mixer. Add 7-8 drops of red food coloring, mixing until incorporated throughout the dough. Add more coloring to reach desired shade of red.

7

Put the now-red dough back in its bowl, Rinse out the mixer bowl and dry it before adding another mound of dough. This time, add 7-8 drops of blue food coloring, mixing until it is incorporated throughout the dough. Add more coloring to reach desired shade of blue.

8

Put the now-blue dough back in its bowl. You will now have 1 bowl of red dough, 1 bowl of blue dough, and 1 bowl of 'white' uncolored dough,

9

On a sheet of parchment paper, start making a log shape out of clumps of dough, alternating colors. Build your log about 15" long and build it up. Keep alternating colors until you run out of dough. ( I used a mixture of larger clumps and smaller clumps to give the final look more variety)

10

Wrap your log in the parchment paper and roll it gently, wrapping your hand around it to smooth your log out and give it an 'even' finish.

11

Refrigerate your dough log for 1-2 hours.

12

Taking a knife, cut 1/3" thick slices, placing them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. You can comfortably fit 12 cookies on a standard baking sheet.

13

Bake for 10-12 minutes

14

Let cook for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooking rack.

Notes

* You can mix the dough by hand instead of using a stand mixer. Doing so may change the consistency of the final baked cookies. * You can follow this same technique with any colors you like to fit any occasion.