Easy Fourth of July Desserts and Treats!

Every Fourth of July I am faced with feeding a huge crowd. Folks eating, playing games, telling stories, waiting for the Fireworks! I have two favorites that I'd like to share with everyone.

I always make chocolate sandwich cookies. All that's needed is a cake mix - usually chocolate or a double fudge (yummers!) - a stick of butter or margarine, one or two eggs, and a teaspoon of vanilla. The one or two egg statement is because I have tried either - depending on what I have at hand, and the only difference is maybe a little 'cakier 'texture with two eggs, but not enough to matter, so it's up to the cook. Mix all ingredients together and place on cookie sheet with a teaspoonful for each. Bake at 325-350 for 7-10 minutes. You know your oven - and know which setting cooks best for you, vary it accordingly. When they have baked and cooled I spread cream cheese frosting on half of them, and top with the other half. These are so easy! For a large group I usually end up makeing a double or triple batch. This recipe also works well with the lemon cake mix, sometimes I don't make sandwiches, I just let the lemon cookies cool and dust with powered sugar. Carrot cake mix works well with the cream cheese frosting also, but the double fudge is the best crowd pleaser.

My favorite recipe of all favorites is a new spin on Rice Krispie treats. (This is just great for Fourth of July desserts and treats!) The recipe is readily available on the internet - and it varies a little with each writing. Usually I use 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine, a bag of regular marshmallows or a jar of (7oz) marshmallow creme, and 6 cups of Rice Krispie cereal. I always make 3 separate batches and with food coloring I color the marshmallow mix before adding the cereal, one batch red, the other blue. (See where I'm going here?) Yep, it will end up being the United States Flag! For the white I wait till the cereal is mixed in and it is spread on a cookie sheet, then top it with white sprinkles or cut up mini-marshmallows, pushing them down a little to make sure they stay on the treats. All three batches are best when spread on cookie sheets, trying to keep the tops as even as possible as you spread them.

Once they have cooled they need to be sliced into strips - for the stripes on the flag! I have found that a serrated knife works best, and maybe an electric knife would be good too. Hmmm, maybe I'll try that this year!

We have a Flag on our fence at the farm, and no matter how many times I see it during the day, I always have to check it for the basic design when I make this Fourth of July treat. (I've made this with green food coloring for the Holidays - making a tree shape by hand, and then decorating it with hard candies before it cools so that I can push them into the cereal). Kids love it!

Of course you can't make the exact amount of stripes, or the exact amount of stars, but that doesn't matter, once everyone sees it they know what it is! I have used hard candies for stars, flattened marshmallows with my rolling pin and used a star cookie cutter, I even used peppermints one year as that's my grandkids favorite candy.

The stripes are a little hard to handle, moving them carefully into place, ( I usually put it together on a large board covered in foil) and you will see that you can push the strips and the star part together firmly. It takes a little patience, but when done it's really cute!

I use a piece of plywood that I've had cut just for the purpose of serving desserts - and when the flag is done I have enough room to put my cookies around it too. Great presentation!

Happy Fourth of July Desserts and Treats from my farm to your get-to-gether!