Firecracker Pie Crust Stars are easy to make pie crust cookies and for pie crust aficionados, they are stars from heaven! With that “sweet and salty” thing going on, they are addicting like potato chips – you can’t eat just one. I’ve made them before and posted them on this blog; well, not these exact ones.
I made similar pie crust cookies in February called Sweetheart Pie Crust Cookies. Plus, for two other cookies that hit that “sweet and salty” note, check out Gail’s Potato Chip Cookies and my Oatmeal Cookies (also known as The World’s Best Oatmeal Cookies from high authority – my mother!).
Even though the 4th of July is right around the corner, it’s not too late to include these pie crust cookies on your 4th of July menu. But, you do need pie crust. And, if you are anything like me, tomorrow you’ll be running to the grocery store to pick up that last item you forgot to get, so while you are there, pick up a box of refrigerated pie crust dough. Or, you can always make pie crust from scratch {grin}!
Firecracker Pie Crust Stars are a fun way to get your kids involved in the kitchen. Just open the refrigerated pie crust package, unroll it on a lightly flour work surface (I used the back side of my large wooden chopping board) and hand your kids the cookie cutters. Let them cut on the shapes and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Give one kid a brush and let them brush each star with unsalted melted butter and give the other kid the sugar/white pepper mixture to sprinkle over each.
Yes, I said “pepper” above! I’ve added white pepper to the granulated sugar to give these cookies a bit of punch. That’s why I named them Firecracker Pie Crust Stars {grin}.
Anyway, then give both kids the sprinkles to scatter on top. Pop them into a 375 degree F. preheated oven for 10 minutes and, voila’, Firecracker Pie Crust Stars!
Firecracker Pie Crust Cookies - a great 4th of July treat and an easy recipe to make with your kids! #4thofJuly Click To Tweet
Fair warning: you will need a lot of sprinkles! The sweeter, the better because pie crust dough is salty! And, be sure to use unsalted butter – the pie crust dough is salty enough.
Also, don’t worry about getting sprinkles all over the parchment-lined cookie sheet. They will melt into the cookies. So, when cooled, you can easily pick off the excess bits of melted sprinkles with your fingers!
I have a set of star-shaped cookie cutters with four different sizes. I used all but the largest star cookie cutter for this project. I thought the large one was just too large. The smallest cookies are about an inch and a half – perfect little bite-sized morsels. The medium cookies cutter is about 2 and a half and the next size up about 3 inches. You can’t really see the larger cookies on this platter, but they are there – on the bottom. If you look at the blue stars closely, you will notice one cookie is larger than the one on top! And, the same for the white cookies, if you can see through the words I’ve placed over the top!
Tools and Special Ingredients
Here’s a list of tools and special ingredients you’ll need to make these Firecracker Pie Crust Stars (this post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.):
Various sizes of star cookie cutters
Red, white and blue colored sprinkles
Well, I guess you don’t really need a Pretty Chalkboard Platter for your pie crust cookies, but I love mine, which I got at an antique store, and use it all the time!
Here’s the recipe:
PrintFirecracker Pie Crust Stars
These 4th of July treats have a surprise bit of heat from white pepper added to the sugar. Don’t want these cookies spicy? Just leave it out!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 36 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 package of 2-crust refrigerated pie crust dough
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper (optional)
- 1/4 cup red sprinkles
- 1/4 cup white sprinkles
- 1/4 cup blue sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In small bowl, mix granulated sugar and white pepper; set aside.
- Line 3 baking trays with parchment paper.
- Prepare a lightly floured surface to work on (I used the backside of a very large wooden cutting board).
- Carefully unroll dough onto the lightly floured surface and using star shaped cookie cutters, press the cutter into the dough to cut out the cookies.
- Transfer each cut-out to parchment-lined cookie sheets.
- Using a pastry brush, brush each cookie liberally with unsalted butter.
- Sprinkle sugar/pepper mixture over each cookie (I used a cheese shaker – one of those kind you find at a pizza restaurant; it made distributing the sugar very easy – and fast!).
- Sprinkle one pan of cookies with white sprinkles, another with red sprinkles and the other with blue sprinkles (that way you can keep the colors from melting together).
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes (do not overbake because they will taste too done).
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes.
- Transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.
- When they are cool to the touch, use your fingers to pick off the extra sugar that will attach on the edges of each cookie.
Notes
By using cookie cutters of various sizes, I was able to make more than 3 dozen cookies from one package of dough. Once I cut out as many cookies as I could, I wadded up the remaining dough and then using a rolling pin, re-rolled it to 1/4-inch thickness and cut out more cookies. Also, don’t use salted butter. Pie crust dough is salty enough and if you use salted butter, your cookies will be too salty! Lastly, you made need more sugar! Depending on how sweet you want these, you need to liberally cover them with sugar. I wanted my cookies to have deep, dense color, so I used quite a bit of sprinkles.
Tootles,
More 4th of July posts from Toot Sweet 4 Two’s archives:
26 Awesome Things I’m Sweet On in June
42 Independence Day Decorations in Your Home
This looks great! Have you ever used colored sugar on a pie crust — or do you think it would burn based on the cooking time?
I’m thinking about a strawberry pie with either stars for a top crust, or solid crust (with slits) with red or green granulated sugar, for a Christmas party.
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No, I haven’t but I really like the idea and the look of it! Merry Christmas!