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Fireworks Celebration Cookies Recipe

Let me show you an easy way to make and decorate fireworks celebration cookies. These fun and festive treats start with my tried-and-true recipe for soft sugar cookies. Some colored icing and sparkly sprinkles are all you need to top these dazzling firework cookies, which are easy enough for cookie-decorating rookies. Whichever holiday or occasion you love to celebrate with fireworks, these cookies are the perfect way to light up your tastebuds.

Today I’m sharing with you my simple method for making and decorating cookies like colorful fireworks. You can use flower and star cookie cutters, and choose from my 2 favorite cookie icings below. (I include my royal icing recipe in the printable recipe card.) Finish them off with some shimmery sprinkles and get ready for everyone to ooh and ahh when you serve these fireworks celebration cookies—they’re sure to spark excitement!

For today’s firework cookies, I use my classic sugar cookies recipe. No surprise there, because it’s one of the most popular recipes on my website! I added a little lemon extract and zest for flavor, but that’s completely optional. If you want to give your fireworks a dark-sky background, you can take this decorating inspiration and use it on my chocolate sugar cookies.

All the Details!

  • Texture: Rolling the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness makes for extra soft and thick sugar cookie centers. The edges are nice and crisp, and the royal icing on top adds a textural contrast as well.. See the full list of Recommended Tools below.
  • Time: I recommend setting aside an afternoon for making and decorating these fireworks celebration cookies. It’s typically 4 hours from start to finish, depending on the level of decorating detail you want. The cookies stay fresh and soft for days, so this is a great make-ahead dessert!

Overview: How to Make Party-Perfect Fireworks Celebration Cookies

The Trick Is the Order of Steps

Here’s another trick! Roll out the cookie dough directly on silicone baking mats or parchment paper sheets so you can easily transfer it to the refrigerator. Pick the whole thing up, set it on a baking sheet, and place it in the refrigerator. If you don’t have enough room for 2 baking sheets in your refrigerator, you can stack the pieces of rolled-out dough on top of each other (with parchment or baking mat in between).

Choose Your Icing

I use Wilton icing tip #2 to pipe the fireworks’ lines on the cooled cookies..

You can also add little star sprinkles to the fireworks cookies; I used the stars from this sprinkle mix. Pipe a little dot of icing, then adhere the star sprinkle to it.. Then feel free to add sprinkles for extra flair.

Stack, wrap, gift, and/or store: Once the icing has set, you can stack, wrap, gift, and/or store these festive cookies. If you need more cookie inspiration, today’s cookies join 25+ others on my Summer Cookie Recipes collection page.. 🙂

Recommended Tools for Your Fireworks Cookies

For even more recommendations, see this full list of my favorite cookie decorating supplies.

Prep Time 230 mins
Cook Time 12 mins
Total Time 4 hrs 2 mins
Cuisine:
Courses:
Servings: 24
Description

These fun and festive fireworks cookies are soft and buttery with hints of vanilla and lemon. They're topped with my favorite royal icing in various shades to look like bursting fireworks. This piping design is quite simple, even for beginners. My recipe is detailed and thorough, and you can find a full list of tools above the recipe and in the recipe Notes.

Ingredients You’ll Need
  • 2 and 2 1/4 cups (281g)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g)
  • 3/4 cup (150g)
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 optional: teaspoons lemon zest
  • 4 cups (480g)
  • 3 Tablespoons meringue powder (not plain egg white powder)
  • 9 Tablespoons 9–10 room-temperature water
  • gel food coloring (such as the colors from this set)
  • optional: sanding sugar sprinkles and star sprinkles
Instructions
  1. 1
    Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
  2. 2
    In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and lemon zest and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
  3. 3
    Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Dough will be a bit soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 more Tablespoon of flour.
  4. 4
    Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Place each portion onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or a lightly floured silicone baking mat. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Use more flour if the dough seems too sticky. The rolled-out dough can be any shape, as long as it is evenly 1/4-inch thick.
  5. 5
    Lightly dust one of the rolled-out dough portions with flour. Place a piece of parchment paper on top. (This prevents sticking.) Place the 2nd rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least 1–2 hours and up to 2 days.
  6. 6
    Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 or 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. If it’s sticking to the bottom, run your hand under it to help remove it. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. I used this flower cookie cutter for the fireworks cookies..
  7. 7
    Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used. Repeat with 2nd piece of dough. (Note: It doesn’t seem like a lot of dough, but you get a lot of cookies from the dough scraps you re-roll.)
  8. 8
    Arrange cookies on baking sheets 3 inches apart. Bake for 11–12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheets halfway through bake time. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
  9. 9
    . Pour confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and 9 Tablespoons of water into a large bowl. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat icing ingredients together on high speed for 1.5 – 2 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 5-10 seconds. If it’s too thick, beat in more water 1 Tablespoon at a time. I usually need 10 Tablespoons but on particularly dry days, I use up to 12-14 Tablespoons. Keep in mind that the longer you beat the royal icing, the thicker it becomes. If your royal icing is too thin, just keep beating it to introduce more air OR you can add more sifted confectioners’ sugar.
  10. 10
    Divide the icing up into separate bowls, depending on how many colors of icing you’d like. Stir in gel food coloring, and then spoon the icings into piping bags fitted with piping tip #2 or piping tip #3. Pipe curved lines from the middle of the cookie to the edges... You can also add little star sprinkles to the fireworks cookies, and I used the stars from this sprinkle mix. Pipe a little dot of icing, then adhere the star sprinkle to it.
  11. 11
    . Pipe a border around the cookies and then flood the center with icing. Feel free to dip into sprinkles.
  12. 12
    Icing completely dries in about 2 hours at room temperature. No need to cover the decorated cookies as you wait for the icing to set. If it’s helpful, decorate the cookies directly on a baking sheet so you can place the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help speed up the icing setting.
  13. 13
    Enjoy cookies right away or wait until the icing sets to serve them. Once the icing has set, these cookies are great for gifting or for sending. Plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Keywords: confectioners-sugar, lemon extract, lemon zest, meringue powder
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