4th of July Star Sugar Cookies

4th of July has been my favorite American holiday since I moved to the States 6 years ago! I went a little wild last night and made a batch of these fun sugar cookies. My husband helped with decorating, so we ended up having a 4th of July blast. These cookies are ideal for decorating. They hold their shape in the oven perfectly. They are not soft flaky type of cookies, but are a bit crackery. You'll find them very easy to work with when decorating.

Yield about 50 cookies

Cookie Dough

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup vegan butter, softened
• 1/4 cup vanilla soy or almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar

Icing

• 2 cups powdered sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp soy or almond milk
• Sprinkles (optional)

*Depending on how you will decorate your cookies, you may need to double or triple the icing recipe.

1. Carefully beat powdered sugar with vegan butter, soy milk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and blend until the dough is evenly combined. Don't overdo the dough. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Dust the working space with flour. Divide the dough into two parts and roll each part into a thin sheet. Use your cookie cutter to cut out the stars. Place the cut out cookies onto the parchment sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 7 minutes. If your cookies are larger, you might want to add a minute or two but be careful to not overdo on the heat. Cool the cookies completely.

3. To prepare the icing, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and soy milk until the mixture is smooth. I've made a triple recipe of the icing and colored two parts with food coloring.

4. Use your wild imagination to decorate the cookies! It's the best part of the whole process.