Marbled and naturally dyed red white and blue cookies, bursting with white chocolate and raspberry flavor!
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naturally dyed red white and blue cookies
If you’re looking for some festive red white and blue cookies for your Fourth of July celebration that don’t require food dye, you’ve come to the right place! These cookies are naturally dyed with butterfly pea powder and freeze-dried raspberries. The colors certainly aren’t as vibrant, but they lend both color and flavor to the cookies. These marble cookies are soft and chewy with crisp edges, filled white chocolate, and are honestly just so fun to look at.
why you’ll love these fourth of july cookies:
- Naturally dyed: if you’re avoiding artificial dyes for any reason, you’ll be very happy to know that these fourth of july cookies colors come from natural sources, not from artificial dyes.
- Super flavorful: the beauty of using natural dyes here is that the red comes from raspberries – so you get a delicious raspberry flavor throughout the cookies.
- They’re super easy to make: no stand mixer or hand mixer required.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Mix the dough carefully:
When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.
Under bake for perfect cookies:
Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
The secret to perfectly round cookies:
Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for red white and blue cookies:
- All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking soda & baking powder: helps the cookies rise and the edges crisp up.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies.
- Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Vanilla extract: for flavor.
- White chocolate: I used Valrhona feves which I love, but they are definitely on the pricier side and more of a treat-yourself item. If you’re not using feves, I recommend using a white chocolate baking bar. You can also of course use white chocolate chips here, just note that the cookies will end up a little thicker.
- Butterfly pea powder: what gives these cookies their naturally colored beautiful blue hue. This is the butterfly pea powder that I use.
- Freeze-dried raspberry powder: what gives these cookies their naturally colored beautiful red hue. You can also use freeze-dried strawberries here, but note that the red will appear a much lighter pink.
how to make red white and blue cookies
red white and blue cookies recipe q&a
what is butterfly pea flower?
The butterfly pea flower is a flowering plant that is most often used to make herbal teas. Butterfly pea flower tea is believed to be good for you thanks to the anthocyanins in the plant, which also give it its distinct blue pigment. Butterfly pea powder is simply the flower in powdered form, and is what we’ll be using for these cookies. I will warn that the powder itself has a strong smell like matcha that might seem a little off-putting, but don’t worry! We’re only using a little bit of the powder here which will only yield the slightest taste in the cookies. The main thing we’re using the powder for is to create a fun, naturally-dyed blue cookie dough.
can I use other powders?
Definitely! I made these to be fourth of july cookies, but the powders can easily be swapped out. You could use matcha in place of the butterfly pea powder, freeze-dried strawberries in place of the raspberries, or even do a two-toned raspberry situation. The color and flavor possibilities are really endless in these cookies.
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.
How to store red white and blue cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.
can I make these cookies ahead of time?
Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other cookie recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Red White and Blue Cookies
Ingredients
- 90 g unsalted butter (6 ⅓ tbsp.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 60 g white chocolate (⅓ c.) + extra for topping
- 1 tsp. butterfly pea powder
- 2 tbsp. freeze-dried raspberry powder*
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, melt the butter in 20 second intervals until it's just melted.
- Whisk in the granulated and brown sugar, followed by the egg and vanilla.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix the ingredients together *just* until the last streak of flour disseapears.
- Divide the dough into thirds into three separate bowls. (about 150g each)
- From this point, you'll want to only mix until the dough is fully cohesive to avoid over-mixing the dough.
- To one bowl, mix in the butterfly pea powder. To another, mix in the freeze-dried raspberry powder. To the last bowl, mix in the white chocolate.
- Use a 1 tbsp. cookie scoop to dish out each flavor of the dough.
- Take one of the raspberry dough and flatten it in your hand, then flatten a white chocolate dough on top of it, followed by the butterfly pea powder dough. Roll the flattened dough into a ball.
- Repeat until you have used all of the dough. If you want to make the dough a little more uniform, you can press it into a 3 tbsp. cookie scoop and release it.
- Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow it to firm up.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Place the dough balls evenly spaced apart to allow room for spreading, and top them with more white chocolate if desired.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown and the middle has almost completely set.
- Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, you can take a bowl that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around over the cookies to make them a little more uniform and circular. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
These are fabulous! Incredibly easy to make and absolutely delicious! Each of the three colors imparted so much flavor on their own, and also together! These will be on my repeat list even when it’s not 4th of July! Thanks for the awesome butterfly pea powder recipe! Yum!!
Thank you so much Jenny! So happy you like the butterfly pea powder recipes! 🙂
These were so great!! They were surprisingly easy! I did a test run for the 4th and they are definitely staying on the list! My husband and I think they taste like captain crunch! 🙂
Also I’m loving all the recipes with butterfly pea powder!