WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
These easy-to-make, red, white and blue star-shaped cookies for the 4th of July are a sandy, crumbly shortbread cookie studded with dried cranberries, covered in a tart lemon glaze and topped with fun red, white, and blue stripes.
A fun change from a traditional cut out cookie. These melt-in-your mouth cookies are made with a shortbread cookie dough, and have a tart lemon flavor from the lemon zest in the cookie and a tart lemon glaze on top. I diced the dried cranberries before I added them to the dough, so it was easier to roll out and cut in to a fun star shapes.
My husband added the sprinkles (sanding sugar) to the cookies while I iced them. We tried adding the sprinkles in a variety of ways. I think the vertical stripes ended up being our favorite.
These cookies came together quickly and easily, and would be a perfect addition to any 4th of July party.
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below and we will send it straight to your inbox. Plus you will get great new recipes from us every week!
4th of July Lemon Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 cup dried cranberries finely chopped
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- In a small bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and lemon zest. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until well blended. Mix in the dried cranberries.
- Shape the dough in to a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Cut the dough in to desired shapes. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets or cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake until lightly browned on the bottom about 10-12 minutes. Don’t over bake. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool.
- Icing
- Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to create a thin glaze. Spread the icing on the cooled cookies and decorate with sprinkles as desired.
And if you’re looking for a fun way to start the day on the 4th of July, try my popular 4th of July Muffins.
Jessica @ Sweet Menu
I just love how versatile shortbread is! These look so pretty and I love the lemon cranberry flavours!
Maureen
Perfect for the 4th of July (or any other day if you ask me). It’s the middle of winter on the 4th of July for me now but I always put the flag bandanna on the dog and head to the tourist beach for a stroll. It’s amazing how many holidaying Americans say Happy 4th of July to the dog. 🙂
2 Sisters Recipes
You come up with the most amazing recipes for cookies, cakes and everything else. I love a shortbread cookie and with two ingredients that we adore, lemon and cranberries, what could be better? Have a great week Barbara.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Happy 4th of July coming up for you mum! 😀 xxx
Rocky Mountain Woman
They look so festive! I’ll have to make some for my grandkids…
Claire @ Claire K Creations
Mmm lemon and shortbread combined sounds delicious Barbara!
Angie (@angiesrecipess)
These shortbread cookies look so very beautiful!
Shannon @ Bake.Frost.Repeat
I love shortbread AND I loved that they are iced. They are so festive and cute as well.
Melissa @ My Recent Favorite books
I love cookies like this! =)
Sherry
Barbara, these look awesome!
About how many did the batch make?
Sherry
Barbara, these look awesome! How many did the batch make?
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Sherry – about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
I had to pin this recipe. My favorite cookies are shortbread. And my personal symbol is a star, after the meaning of my middle name. So these cookies are MINE. Smiles—-
Maggie Unzueta @ Mama Maggie's Kitchen
I have a 4th of July bbq every year. LOVE these cookies.
Ami@NaiveCookCooks
I love shortbread cookies. These look awesome!!
Rosa
Pretty and festive!
Cheers,
Rosa