Wow your guests with Martha’s firecracker cookies

This simple patriotic treat is sure to impress this holiday weekend

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>> this morning on "martha on today," a fourth of july celebration. you don't need fireworks to make your guests ooh and ah this weekend. you might want to try inexpensive crafts and decorations straight from the pages of " martha stewart living ." good morning.

>> good morning.

>> you are just in time. the holiday's coming. a lot of us have no idea what we're doing.

>> it's so much fun. it's three days. you have to time to make all these simple but very effective cookies and decorations. candy favors like this. m&m's and these little swizzle sticks. they're so cute. napkins. just find fabrics.

>> so fun things that are red, white and blue and put them together.

>> i love these little rockets filled with candies and fine patriotic red, white and blue candies, tie them up. these are sort of like crackers, candy crackers.

>> so that done, but let's talk about the spectacular idea.

>> firework cookies. now, these look impossible to make, right?

>> they do. let's show people what they look like close up. you can see they're frosted cookies. you've taken frosting --

>> everybody's buying it to figure out how to do it.

>> you're saying people can do this at home.

>> yes.

>> show us how.

>> the first thing, flood your cookie with white icing.

>> i like that word, flood.

>> just use a squeeze bottle. just get the consistency of your royal icing which is basically confectionary's sugar and egg whites and a little flavoring of lemon juice . just a tad. and you just spread the whole cookie. keep squeezing until you get a nice flood. we have it covered here already. so you can pick up one. you want to do red or blue.

>> i'll do red.

>> now, you start in the middle and just put a dot.

>> a dot.

>> then do eccentric circles all the way around. you can alternate red and blue or just read.

>> circle.

>> you're doing well. they do not have to be perfect circles. this takes a little elbow grease , as i always say.

>> you have to squeeze pretty hard. and you can find one of these tubes anywhere.

>> i want to make sure you have one that's all done.

>> okay. is this a competition? because i'm going to get going here.

>> get those concentric circles . this is an old baker's technique from france. remember on the tops of napoleons?

>> oh, yeah.

>> you know, they had those little beautiful drawings.

>> beautiful designs, right.

>> so then take -- yeah, you're doing okay. that's enough to show the technique. then take the point of the bamboo skewer and pull from the center out just lightly. and see what happens?

>> like you're making a little pie. like you're cutting a pie.

>> but lightly, just do the top service and you get those beautiful designs. even though mine was kind of like not perfect.

>> clean the tip of your bamboo.

>> mine is so pretty.

>> it is perfect. but as you get more adept at it, you get more and more, do complicated, beautiful designs.

>> you could spend so much time.

>> now, striped tablecloth. this is a drop cloth from home depot . it's a canvas drop cloth. use a fabric paint. tape off -- masking tape . tape off lines and then just --

>> down the line.

>> dab like this. then let it dry and pull off the tape and you have stripes like that.

>> we've run out of time, just leave the tape on it.

>> no, no, no. and then decorating your kid's bike or your bike. do you have a bike in

>> i do have a bike.

>> they're so much fun to decorate. all the clip art is in our magazine.

>> how did you do that?

>> we show you how to do these spoke covers, how to do the wheel cover . this goes right on the wheel. it's very simple.

>> this would be great at getting kids to get on the bike but get the whole family out on the bike.

>> and do your own little parade or take the bike to your fourth of july. do you have one in your town?

>> i do have one in my town.

>> these are so much fun. just make sure you keep anything that's hanging away from the wheels so that you don't have an accident.

>> martha stewart . putting ai smi smile on the holiday.

>> do you want to ride?

>> i do.

>> can you do it in your skirt?

>>> i have a skirt on. be careful as you shoot this. first, this is "today" on nbc!

>>> it is a pleasure, and

Show transcript

TODAY recipes

updated 6/29/2011 6:38:52 AM ET

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Here’s a patriotic treat that will have your guests oohing and aahing this 4th of July. Martha Stewart shares her recipe for firecracker cookies.

Recipe: Fireworks cookies (on this page)

Recipe: Fireworks cookies

Martha Stewart Living

http://www.marthastewart.com

Ingredients

Ingredients for the cookies:
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 teaspoon baking powder
Coarse salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract for decorating the cookies
Red, white, and blue royal icing (recipe follows)
Red, white, and blue royal icing
1 cup water, plus more if needed
1/2 cup meringue powder (nycake.com)
1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Gel-paste food coloring in Red Red, Royal Blue, and Navy Blue (nycake.com)

Preparation

Active time 40 min.

Total time 3 hours

For the cookies: Sift flour, baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt into a large bowl.

Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, then vanilla. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325°. Roll out dough to a scant ¼-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies using a 1 ¾, 2 ¼, 2 ¾ or 3 ½ -inch round cookie cutter, rerolling scraps once. Transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Bake until edges just start to brown, 17 to 19 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.

Decorate the cookies: Pipe an outline of white icing around edge of 1 cookie, leaving a ¼ -inch border, then “flood” with more white icing to cover.

Immediately pipe a red or blue dot in the center of cookie. Then pipe concentric rings of colors around the center dot (using the same color as the dot, or alternating colors).

Immediately drag a toothpick through the colors to create bursts, starting from the center dot and working toward the edge, then alternate dragging inward and outward as you work around the cookie. (Or drag around the cookie in 1 direction or curve the lines for a pinwheel effect.) Let dry. Repeat with remaining cookies and icings. Make ahead: Cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw before using. Storage: Decorated cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Red, white and blue royal icing:
Active time 10 min.
Total time 15 min.

Makes about 4 2/3 cups (enough for 7 dozen 1¾-inch cookies, 5 dozen 2¼-inch cookies, thirty 2¾-inch cookies, or thirteen 3½-inch cookies)

To apply the icing and make the spectacular bursts, you’ll need three plastic squeeze bottles (nycake.com) or three pastry bags — one for each color. Snip the tip of one squeeze bottle to form a small hole (for the white) and the tips of the remaining two to form even smaller holes (for the red and blue). If using pastry bags, fit one with a small round tip (we used Ateco #2), and the remaining two with very small tips (such as Ateco #0).

Whisk water and meringue powder with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Add sugar, and beat until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface for 5 seconds when beater is raised. (Icing should be the consistency of glue.)

Transfer two-thirds of the white icing to the squeeze bottle with the larger hole or to the pastry bag fitted with the larger tip.

Divide remaining icing in half, and tint one half using red food coloring and the other half using the 2 blue food colorings until desired colors are achieved.

Transfer red and blue icings to the remaining 2 squeeze bottles or the pastry bags fitted with the smaller tips. Make ahead: Icing can be refrigerated in an airtight container (with a damp paper towel covering the surface) for up to 1 week.