Flag Cookies Food

AMERICAN FLAG COOKIE CAKE

Steps:

• For the shortbread: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and brown sugar. Cut the butter into pieces, and using 2 forks or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it's the consistency of wet sand. Press the dough firmly and evenly into a nonstick 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet.
• Bake until the shortbread is pale golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the baking sheet on a wire rack. Once it has cooled, use a sharp knife to carefully cut around the edges then invert the shortbread onto a serving platter.
• For the toppings: Make the frosting by beating the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and continue beating on low speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla extract then sift the confectioners' sugar into the bowl and mix on low speed just until combined. (Overmixing will cause the frosting to be too runny.)
• Spread the cream cheese frosting in an even layer on the shortbread. Arrange 6 of the blueberries in the top left corner in each of 5 rows to form the blue portion of the flag. Arrange the raspberries in about 6 horizontal rows across the cake, leaving about 1 inch between each row, to form the stripes. Place the white chocolate chips between the blueberries to form the stars.
• Using a sharp knife, slice and serve the cookie cake immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve the same day. To make the cake in advance, wrap the shortbread tightly in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 2 days. Refrigerate the frosting for up to 2 days. Then assemble the cake shortly before serving so the berries don't release juices into the frosting.

FLAG COOKIES

Steps:

• Cut a 3-by-5-inch template out of lightweight cardboard, or create a template by stacking several index cards together, then wrapping them in plastic wrap, leaving one side smooth; set aside. Line 2 baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar for 1 minute. Add vanilla, flour, and salt, and mix until just combined, 1 to 2 minutes more.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Place the smooth side of the template onto the dough, and cut out a rectangle using a paring knife; repeat to make a total of 16 rectangles, re-rolling dough as needed.
• Transfer rectangles to prepared baking sheets using a wide spatula. Chill for at least 1 hour.
• Bake cookies until they are just beginning to color and are lightly firm to the touch, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove to cooling rack, and let cool completely.
• Divide the royal icing evenly among 4 bowls, and cover each tightly with plastic wrap. Set one bowl aside for outlining the cookies. Add red food coloring to one of the bowls, and mix thoroughly, adding more food coloring if necessary to obtain desired color. Add 2 or 3 teaspoons of water to icing so it is loose enough to flow easily off of a spatula when lifted and forms a ribbon that dissolves almost immediately. Replace plastic wrap, and cover tightly. Repeat this process with another bowl of icing using blue food coloring. To the third bowl of icing, add just the water, and mix thoroughly. Recover all bowls tightly with plastic wrap.
• Transfer the reserved outlining icing to a small pastry bag fitted with a No. 5 tip. Pipe an even line on the outside edges of the cookie. Divide the cookie in half with a horizontal line. To form the outline of the canton (the field of stars), pipe a vertical line 1/3 of the way from the left side of the cookie until it meets the first horizontal line. To form the stripes, pipe two evenly spaced horizontal lines above the original horizontal line and to the right of the canton. Pipe 3 more evenly spaced horizontal lines from left to right under the canton. Repeat this process on the remaining cookies. Reserve the icing in the pastry bag for the stars. Allow the icing to dry for at least 1 hour.
• Place the remaining 3 icings into separate squeeze bottles. Flood the field of stars with enough blue icing to fill the space evenly without overflowing. Use the tip of a small knife or a wooden skewer to push the icing completely into the corners. Using the same technique, flood every other stripe with the red icing. Allow the icing to dry for at least 2 hours. Flood the remaining stripes with the white icing.
• Change the tip of the pastry bag with the reserved white icing to a No. 16 tip. Pipe out as many stars onto the blue icing as will fit. Allow the icing to dry.

ITALIAN FLAG COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat the butter, powdered sugar, granulated sugar and salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low to incorporate. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and place them in bowls. Add 15 drops green food coloring to one bowl and 25 drops of red to another and mix well to combine.
• Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on a work surface. Starting with the green, pour the dough out into a long strip about 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Pour the white on top of the green in the same manner, forming another strip of the same dimensions; finish with the red. Wrap well, turn on its side so the colors are in the order of the Italian flag and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the plastic wrap from the dough and slice the dough into 1/4-inch slices. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Bake until just barely beginning to brown around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.