Watermelon Cookie Recipe
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This Watermelon Cookie Recipe is festive and fun and just what your backyard BBQ or pool party needs this year! Everyone will love these sweet, adorable and super easy to make treats.
We absolutely love all things sugar cookies! From Sugar Cookie Pancakes to Rainbow Pinwheel Sugar Cookies, we just can’t get enough of them. But what makes this iced sugar cookies recipe especially fun is they are decorated to look just like a slice of watermelon.
If you think decorating with royal icing is intimidating, you don’t have to worry. No special skills are needed to decorate these cookies. The recipe used for royal icing and these easy to follow instructions will have you decorating like a pro!
Why We Love This Watermelon Cookie Recipe
Perfect cookies for summer parties: What screams summer more than watermelon? Whether it’s for 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day or summer birthday parties, these watermelon sugar cookies will be a huge hit with the kids, family and friends!
Easy recipe: Because this recipe starts out with slice and bake sugar cookie dough, half the work is done for you. Just cut out the shape of the cookie, bake them and have fun decorating.
Great make ahead cookie recipe: It’s always great to have sweet treats on hand for last minute get-togethers. That’s a great thing about these cookies; they can keep for up to two weeks as long as they are stored properly in an airtight container!
What’s Needed to Make Watermelon Sugar Cookies
For the Cookies:
Cookie dough: We used Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough.
All purpose flour: The added flour gives cookie that bakery like texture.
For Decorating
Powdered sugar: This gives the royal icing a nice smooth texture.
Meringue powder: This stabilizes the icing and helps it to harden.
Water: Thins out the icing to perfect flooding consistency.
Gel food coloring: Red, light green and dark green.
Edible marker: Used to make the black watermelon seeds.
How to Make Watermelon Cookies
To Make the Cookies
Step 1. Whisk flour to break up any lumps then add in the cookie dough. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, combine dough and flour on low speed until well incorporated.
Step 2. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookie shapes, using a half circle cookie cutter. You can also use a round cookie cutter and cut the circles in half.
Step 3. Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.
Step 4. Bake cookies at 350 for 8 minutes or just until the edges start to brown.
Step 5. Allow the cookies to cook for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
To Make the Royal Icing Recipe
Step 1. In a stand mixer or electric mixer combine sugar and meringue powder.
Step 2. Add 8 tablespoons of water, using the whisk attachment, beat for 1 minute on low. Continue to add water one tablespoon at a time until the icing slowly drizzles from the whisk when lifted. If the icing is too hard, add more water one drop at a time. Too runny? Add more icing sugar one teaspoon at a time.
Step 3. Separate the icing into small mixing bowls and add desired food coloring. You’ll need three colors: red, dark green and light green.
For the two different shades of green just add additional drops of green food coloring to the bowl until it’s the color you are looking for.
You can also adjust the amount of red food coloring until it’s more of a hot pink verses a red, if you prefer.
Step 4. Mix well and scoop the icing into piping bags or icing bottles.
Decorating The Watermelon Cookies
Step 1. Start with the red icing. Create an outline in a half circle shape on the cookie. Be sure and leave enough room for the watermelon rind.
Step 3. Fill in the outline with the red or hot pink icing.
Step 4. Take a toothpick and move the icing around to fill in gaps or pop any bubble you see.
Step 5. Allow the icing to completely dry before adding the next color. This keeps the icing from bleeding together.
Step 6. Once the red has dried. Outline the outer edge of the cookies with a line of the dark green icing.
Step 7. Allow the icing to dry before you add the lighter green edge then fill in between the dark green edge and the red icing with the lighter shade of green.
Step 8. Allow the icing on the cookies at least 2-3 hours to dry before adding the seeds.
Step 9. Once the icing has completely dried, use the black edible marker to draw on the seeds. And that’s it! See how easy that was?
Alternative Decorating Tips:
Have fun decorating these cookies with different designs. Once you get the hang of how easy royal icing is, you can create some really unique cookies designs,
Polka Dots: Before the flooded area dries, add dots of dark colored icing to make the seeds instead using the markers.
Zig zag design: To give the rind a more realistic look. Make stripes of different colored icing and then drag a toothpick through the stripes.
Plaid pattern: Allow the flooded icing to dry. Add stripes of icing to the cookie, creating a plaid pattern.
One of the great things about using royal icing, is it doesn’t have to be kept chilled. Just store these cookies in an airtight container and they will keep for a couple of weeks right on the kitchen counter.
Can I Freeze these Cookies?
You sure can. Allow the icing at least 4 hours to dry and harden. Then wrap the cookies in plastic wrap, drop them in a freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months.
The only thing you may possibly notice when you freeze iced cookies, is the vibrant colors tend to fade slightly after they are frozen. For that reason, you may decide to make the cookies and freeze them but wait to decorate them afterwards.
Add-ins and Variations for this Watermelon Slice Cookies Recipe
Flavorings: These cookies have a vanilla flavor from the sugar cookie dough. However, you can give add watermelon extract, almond extract or even additional vanilla extract to really give them that from-the-bakery flavor.’
Frosting: If decorating with royal icing just isn’t your thing, you can use buttercream or cream cheese frosting. You can even use ready-made frosting if it is easier for you. Use red and green gel food coloring to create the colors you need.
Sprinkles: If you want your watermelon cookies to glisten, add sugar crystals or sprinkles to the icing before it dries.
Chocolate Chips: Instead of using an edible marker for the seeds, you can use mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Before the icing dries, press chocolate chips into the icing and allow then to set.
Cookie Dough: This recipe uses regular sugar cookie dough, but you can use any flavor cookie dough you prefer as long as the dough is smooth and doesn’t contain nuts or chocolate chips. You can also make your own sugar cookie dough.
Want More Fun Cookie Recipes?
- Leprechaun Cookies
- Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
- Harry Potter Butterbeer Cookies
- Pumpkin Cookies
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
Watermelon Cookie Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pkg Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 8-12 tablespoons room temperature water
- Gel food coloring – green and red
- Edible marker – black
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.
- Whisk flour to break up any lumps then add in the cookie dough. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, combine dough and flour on low speed until well incorporated.1 pkg Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough, 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- Using a rolling pin, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookie shapes, using a half circle cookie cutter. You can also use a round cookie cutter and cut the circles in half.
- Place the dough on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake cookies at 350 for 8 minutes or just until the edges start to brown.
- Allow the cookies to cook for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
- In a stand mixer or electric mixer combine sugar and meringue powder.4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- a Add 8 tablespoons of water, using the whisk attachment, beat for 1 minute on low. Continue to add water one tablespoon at a time until the icing slowly drizzles from the whisk when lifted. If the icing is too hard, add more water one drop at a time. Too runny? Add more icing sugar one teaspoon at a time.8-12 tablespoons room temperature water
- Separate the icing into small mixing bowls and add desired food coloring. You’ll need three colors: red, dark green and light green. For the two different shades of green just add additional drops of green food coloring to the bowl until it’s the color you are looking for.Gel food coloring – green and red
- Mix well and scoop the icing into piping bags or icing bottles.
- Start with the red icing and create an outline in a half circle shape on the cookie. Be sure and leave enough room for the watermelon rind.
- Fill in the outline with the red or hot pink icing.
- Take a toothpick and move the icing around to fill in gaps or pop any bubble you see.
- Allow the icing to completely dry before adding the next color. This keeps the icing from bleeding together.
- Once the red has dried. Outline the outer edge of the cookies with a line of the dark green icing.
- Allow the icing to dry before you add the lighter green edge then fill in between the dark green edge and the red icing with the lighter shade of green.
- Allow the icing on the cookies at least 2-3 hours to dry before adding the seeds.
- Once the icing has completely dried, use a black edible marker to draw the seeds on the watermelon.Edible marker – black
Notes
Nutrition
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