Exploding Star Cookie Stackers

Name: Exploding Star Cookie Stackers
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 1 pouch (6.25 oz) Betty Crocker™ Sugar Cookie Mix; 1 tablespoon flour, plus more to dust cutting board; 1/3 cup butter, softened; 1 large egg; Red and blue paste or gel food coloring; 5 packages (0.33 oz) Pop Rocks™ candy; Optional: white paste or gel food coloring; 10 pieces (1 inch) black string licorice

Jump to Recipe
Save

by: Hungry Happenings

Updated May 18, 2022

Exploding Star Cookie Stackers

Prep Time 1 hr 30 min
Total 3 hr 0 min
Servings 10
Ingredients 8

Save
Share
Print
Keep Screen On

Ingredients

1 pouch (6.25 oz) Betty Crocker™ Sugar Cookie Mix
1 tablespoon flour, plus more to dust cutting board
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
Red and blue paste or gel food coloring
5 packages (0.33 oz) Pop Rocks™ candy
Optional: white paste or gel food coloring
10 pieces (1 inch) black string licorice

Instructions

Step
1

Mix Betty Crocker™ sugar cookie mix with flour. Stir in softened butter and egg until well combined.
Step
2

Divide dough in thirds making one part just a bit bigger than the others. Color the largest piece with red food coloring. Color one piece with blue and the other with white food coloring. Wrap each color of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step
3

Dust cutting board with flour. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut about 35 stars out of each color using a 2 inch star shaped cookie cutter, re-rolling as needed. Cut holes in the centers of 2/3 of the red stars and all of the white and blue stars using a 5/8 inch round cutter. Youll need 10 solid red stars to use as the base of each of your firecrackers. Re-roll the round pieces of dough, to create a few more stars.
Step
4

Place 2 solid red stars, 4 red stars with holes, and 6 blue and 6 white stars on each baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze for 15-20 minutes. You will want to bake no more than 2 sets of the red, white and blue stars at a time.
Step
5

Bake cookies at 375°F for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, and immediately, begin to assemble the stacks of cookies. Brush a light coating of corn syrup on the points of one of the solid red stars. Press one red star, with a hole in it, on top of the solid red star. Brush a light coating of corn syrup on the points of that red star and top it with one more red star with a hole in it.
Step
6

Continue to stack 3 white cookies on top of the three red cookies, using corn syrup as the glue.
Step
7

Add three blue star cookies on top of the white cookies using corn syrup to attach each layer.
Step
8

Move very quickly so that the hot cookies remain soft enough to bend slightly so that they stack nicely. Repeat this whole process to make a second stack of cookies. If your star cookies have gotten too cool and are difficult to stack nicely, you may stick the cookies back in the oven for 30-60 seconds just to make them easier to handle.
Step
9

Once you have the two stacks of cookies completed, place them in the oven for two minutes. The corn syrup will heat up and act as glue to hold all the red, white and blue star cookies together. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Step
10

Repeat making more stacks of cookies. You should have enough star cookies to make 10 red, white and blue firecrackers and have a few extra stars to use to decorate your cookie tray. You can choose, however to make fewer firecrackers and have more stars to use as decorations.
Step
11

Once your firecrackers are all cooled, pour pop rocks into the holes, filling them to about 1/2 inch from the top. Add a 1 inch piece of black licorice into the hole, then fill around it with more pop rocks.
Step
12

Once the pop rocks sit out in the air for a while, they will begin to stick together. This actually makes it easier to fill the top of the cookie stacks.
Step
13

You can make the cookies several days before you need them, but they should be filled with the exploding candy the day you plan to serve them.