Fourth of July Flag Platter of Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Happy Fourth of July to you!

I made a flag platter for Memorial Day, It was made up of rectangles in red, white, and blue, then arranged to look like the American flag.  You can see it here. That platter was inspired by Bearfoot Baker, who was inspired by a star platter made by Cookie Artisan.

I decided to re-visit the whole idea.  This time I made a platter of assorted shapes.  I kept each cookie very simple, then arranged them to look like our "Star-Spangled Banner".

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

How about some National Anthem trivia?  Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled banner.  He wrote the song based on his experience during the War of 1812.  He watched the attack of Fort McHenry from a ship in the Chesapeake Bay.

The next morning "by the dawn's early light" he was able to see that "our flag was still there", "so gallantly streaming".  Beautiful, huh?

Francis' family was from Maryland.  He's buried here in Frederick.  I guess he's our local celebrity.  Everything's named after him.  There's Francis Scott Key mall.  Schools, streets and bridges are named after him.  I'm sure there's a car dealership or two also.  Even our minor league baseball team - the Frederick Keys - bears his name.

Ok, back to cookies . . .

Here is a closer look at the shapes that make up the platter (minus a butterfly which I forgot to include!).

Welcome to Crater City my friends!  Just look at those daisy petals.

I decided to decorate all of these a little differently.  Usually, I use just one consistency of icing for outlining and flooding - close to 20-second icing.  I only use a thicker icing if I have to write.

This time I decided to make two consistencies for each color.  I must say that flooding those large cookies with a 10-second icing is absolutely dreamy.  It levels out so quickly and easily.

However, thinner icing certainly does have a greater tendency to crater in small areas.  Exhibit A is above.

I outlined all of the daisy petals with piping icing, let it dry, then flooded each one.  They were beautiful!.....for a few hours.  Then the craters appeared.  Lesson learned.

There's a lesson to be learned with every single decorated batch of cookies.  It sure keeps things interesting!

No matter the troubles that our Country goes through, our banner yet waves.  God bless our country, Land of the free, Home of the brave.

Happy Independence Day!