Celebrate Flag Day with Star Spangled Sandwich Cookies

Happy Flag Day! Some of you may not realize that today is a holiday- June 14th commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day in 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. I grew up with two of the most patriotic grandparents a kid could have- my grandpa was a staff sergeant in the Army and my grandmother was a technical specialist in the Women’s Army Corps. Their blood ran red, white and blue and they never missed a chance to celebrate America. To top it all off, my grandpa Ray’s birthday was on Flag Day. Story has it that when he was little, he thought that the flags flying were in honor of his birthday! Grandpa Ray was one of my biggest supporters, and the one who can be blamed for my addiction to donuts.

So in memory of Grandpa Ray, and to celebrate on his birthday (and one of his favorite holidays!), I decided to make Star Spangled Sandwich Cookies. I think he would love these, maybe even as much as he loved donuts.

Before you start, heat your oven to 350°F and soften your butter on the counter while the oven is heating up. This dough is super easy to make!

Once the butter is softened, combine the sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl…

…and mix until it comes together.

Then, add in the rest of your dry ingredients.

Beat until the dough starts to come together- it will look a bit crumbly, but don’t worry- it will adhere when you form the dough into a ball.

Now divide the dough in half, and form into 2 balls.

Working with one of the balls of dough (keep the other ball refrigerated- we’ll use it later for the other half of the sandwich cookies), roll out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8" thick.

Cut out stars with a 2 ½" cookie cutter. I'm feeling patriotic already!

Place the stars on a cookie sheet, and place wooden craft sticks under each star.

Press lightly to make sure it sticks.

Bake for 5-6 minutes (it doesn’t take long for these to brown!).

Let them cool completely on a wire cooling rack while you’re working on the rest of the cookies.

Now, roll out the second ball of dough just like we did with the last, but do not put sticks in these ones- these will be the back of your sandwich cookie.

Let them cool while you make the frosting.

Now, it’s time to make the frosting. Combine the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla.

Beat at low speed (don’t want a face full of powdered sugar!), and once it is combined, add milk until the frosting is creamy.

Set the frosting aside for now.

Now comes the really fun part. Time to decorate!

Combine the corn syrup and water in a small bowl- this will be the "glue" that keeps the decorations on the cookies. Grab your favorite decorator sugars/edible glitters/jimmies, and lay down a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper to keep your work area clean- trust me, you’ll be glad you did when you’re done decorating.

Brush the cookie with the "glue", and only to the parts where you want the sugar to go. For this particular cookie, I only wanted edible glitter on the corners, so that is where I brushed.

See how it works?

The finished product:

After I decorated quite a few more, I had a LOT of leftover sprinkles and sugars.

So, I decided not to be wasteful, and reused the pile of decorations on my own "special" cookie.

See what I mean when I say cleanup is a breeze with the paper underneath?

Now, it’s time to assemble the sandwich cookies. Frost the stars that don’t have a stick in them…

…and then simply place the decorated cookie (with the stick) on top of the frosting.

Voila, a sandwich cookie.

Here are some of my decorations- keep in mind, I am by no means a professional cookie decorator, and I think they turned out pretty cute, anyways!

If you want to make these cookies into a festive centerpiece, just cover a block of Styrofoam with some aluminum foil…

…stick the cookies in…

…and cover with a festive-looking napkin. Pretty cute!

These Star Spangled Sandwich Cookies are sure to please, and would work well for a Flag Day Celebration or even Fourth of July. Give them a try for yourself, and make sure to come back and rate and review the recipe.

Check back in a few days when Becky will share a recipe I am extremely excited about – hint: it involves donuts.

Mallory is a Product Specialist in the Test Kitchens at Land O'Lakes and writes for our Recipe Buzz® Blog