4th of July Treatstrue life stories

4th of July Treats

Red, White, & Blue Star Cookies:

Cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel

powdered sugar for sprinkling

1 container of Betty Crocker white frosting

red and blue food coloring

red, white, and blue sprinkles (optional)

For cookies, cream together butter and 2/3 cup sugar in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well mixed. Add flour, salt, and lemon peel, mixing just until blended. Chill dough for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface roll dough 1/8-inch thick. With a 3-inch star shaped cutter, cut into dough and place on prepared baking sheets. Using a one-inch mini star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out holes in center, place the little star (that you cut out) on the baking sheet as well. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden. The little stars will bake faster so remove them about 6-7 minutes into the baking time. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with other half of dough making stars, but do not cut out a center section.

Filling:
In the picture, the center filling is 1/2 cup red currant jelly and 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar,
mixed together. I use Betty Crocker regular white frosting for the Red, White, and Blue Star Cookies. Spoon the frosting into three separate (small) mixing bowls. Add two drops of red food coloring to one bowl and mix together and two drops of blue food coloring into another and mix together. Leave the third bowl of icing plain white.

Assembling the cookies: divide the cookies without a hole into two piles, and make a pile of the little stars. Set aside the ones with a hole for later. Scoop out 1 tsp of the frosting (of your choice: red or blue) and spread the frosting over the top evenly. Take a cookie with a hole in it and sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Then place the powdered sugar cookie on top of a cookie with icing so it sticks (matching up the corners). Use the white frosting for spreading onto the little stars, then sprinkle them with the red, white and blue sprinkles.

Keep assembling the rest of the cookies, rotating each color so you'll have an even amount of red and blue star cookies. Arrange the big cookies on a serving platter with the little white star cookies scattered around the top for a pretty presentation and keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

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Berry American Jello:

2 cups of fresh raspberries

1 packet of raspberry jello mix (regular or sugar free)

1 cup ice cold water

2 cups boiling water

1 container of non-fat whipped creme

2 cups of halved strawberries

1 1/2 cups of blueberries

metal whisk

1 rubber spatula

13 1/2x8 1/2 glass baking dish

First, pour your raspberry jello mix into the glass baking dish. Pour the boiling hot water into the dish and stir the mixture for 2 minutes (or until the mixture has dissolved. Then add the cold water. Whisk together and place in the refrigerator. After an hour and a half pour in your two cups of raspberry to the mixture (make sure they are spread out evenly). Leave the dish in the refrigerator for another 4 hours before removing.

After four hours take the jello out of the refrigerator. Spread the whipped creme evenly over the jello with a rubber spatula so the top of the jello is completely covered. Now take your berries (blueberries and strawberries) and design an American flag. Place the blueberries in the top left corner (so they resemble the stars on the American flag). Slice the green tops off of the strawberries and slice them down the middle and line them seed side up on the rest of the jello (so they resemble the stripes on the American flag). Place back in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

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Red Velvet Patriotic Cupcakes:

-1 package (18-1/4 ounces) Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix

-3 cups heavy whipping cream

-1-1/2 cups marshmallow creme (most grocery stores sell this. check the baking aisle)

-Blue Moon Ice Cream (blue bubblegum ice cream works too or just regular vanilla with 1 drop of blue food coloring works fine)

-Red, white and blue sprinkles

-Blue colored sugar (measure 1/2 cup of sugar into a zip lock bag. Add 1-2 drops of food coloring and close the bag. Knead the bag well to mix the color into the sugar until blue. Should be light blue in color)

-large muffin pan

-cupcake liners (red, white, or blue)

Prepare cake mix batter according to package directions. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full in the muffin tray. Bake at 350° for 11-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Working fast, scoop and spread the blue (or white) ice cream over the cupcakes. Place in the freezer for 1 hour. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl or kitchenaid, beat heavy whipping cream and marshmallow creme together; beat until stiff peaks form. After 1 hour remove the cupcakes from the freezer and pipe the marshmallow mixture over cupcakes; decorate with sprinkles and blue colored sugar. Freeze for 4 hours or until firm.

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Patriotic Pops:

2 cups blue Gatorade

1 cup frozen lite whipped topping (whipped creme, frozen)

1 cup lite vanilla yogurt

2 cups lite cran-raspberry juice (Ocean Spray works)

12 craft sticks

12 5oz disposable dixie cups

1. Divide the blue Gatorade equally among the cups and freeze for 45 minutes.