Cooking With Kids: 4th of July Desserts

 

 

 

Fireworks, barbeques, getting together with friends and family…a perfect 4^th of July holiday!  The only thing that makes it better is to have the kids help make the dessert!  Here are some fun and easy recipes to celebrate the holiday:

1)    Patriotic Poke Cake

            Ingredients:

• 18.25 oz. white, yellow or vanilla cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake
• 14.5 oz. can coconut milk
• red and blue food coloring
• frosting (can use vanilla, cream cheese, or buttercream)
• raspberries and blueberries for garnish

            Preparation:

1. Prepare cake according to package directions. Let cake cool in the baking dish for 10 minutes, while you prepare the filling.
2. Divide the coconut milk in half. Tint half with red food coloring and half with blue food coloring.
3. With cake still in the baking dish, use a fork to poke holes in the warm cake at 1/2-inch intervals on one third of the cake. Carefully spoon some of the blue coconut milk over the holes, pausing to let the colored milk seep in. Don’t douse the cake. You just want enough milk to add color. You should have at least half of the blue coconut milk left.
4. Now poke holes with a fork in the middle third of the cake, and spoon the red coconut milk into those holes. Again, pause to let the colored milk seep in. Again, you should have some red milk left over. Finally, poke holes in the last third of the cake and spoon some of the remaining blue milk into those holes. Discard remaining coconut milk.
5. Let cake sit at room temperature 10-15 minutes, then refrigerate at least 2 hours.
   Loosen the edges of the poke cake with a spatula. Be careful – the cake may be sticky from the coconut milk. Invert the cake onto a serving platter.
6. Frost cake with your favorite frosting. Garnish with raspberries and blueberries.

2)    American Flag Cheesecake Bars

(requires overnight refrigeration)

 

         Supplies:

• Mixer or hand mixer
• 9 x 13 baking dish
• Foil
• Large foil roasting pan
• Cutting board
• Ziplock bag (sandwich size)

            Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

            Filling

• 3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 80 fresh ripe blueberries (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup seedless raspberry jelly

 

            Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides. Spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Make crust: Using a mixer (or hand mixer), combine flour, brown sugar and salt, and process until well combined. Add butter and pulse just until mixture begins to come together; it should not form a ball.

3. Press mixture evenly over bottom of baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until set. Let cool.

4. Make filling: With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Reduce speed to medium-low and add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined. Beat in lemon juice, vanilla and salt.

5. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over crust. Tap pan on countertop 3 or 4 times to burst air bubbles in filling. Place pan in a large roasting pan and put in oven. Pour hot tap water into roasting pan until it comes up about an inch around baking pan.

6. Bake for 40 minutes, or until filling is just set. Cool completely on a wire rack, then cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

7. Use foil overhang to lift cheesecake out of pan and onto cutting board. Heat a large sharp knife under hot water; dry knife. Trim off edges of cheesecake. Carefully cut into 16 bars, rinsing knife under hot water and drying thoroughly between each cut.

8. Transfer bars to a serving platter. Decorate each bar with 5 blueberries in upper left corner to resemble stars on the American flag. Place jelly in a ziplock bag, seal bag and snip off about 1/6 inch at one bottom corner. Pipe jelly in thin lines on each bar to resemble stripes on flag.

3)    4^th of July Rice Krispie Treats

Supplies:

• 6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
• 1 package marshmallows
• 3 TBSP margarine or butter
• Food coloring–red and blue
• 3 medium to large bowls
• 9 x 13 baking dish (well greased)
• Wax paper

Preparation

1. Gather your supplies and divide the Rice Krispies and marshmallows into three groups for the three layers (2 cups Rice Krispies and about 2 cups marshmallows for each group).

2. Melt margarine/butter and marshmallows.  You can use either the stovetop or microwave (make sure you use microwave safe bowls).  For each group, use about 1 TBSP butter and 1/3 of marshmallow package.

3. Once melted, stir well and add the food coloring.  (You can add as much as you would like to get the desired shade of blue and red.)

4. Add the 2 cups of Rice Krispies to each group and stir well.

5. By color, press into well-greased 9×13 baking dish.  Start with blue, then white (which is just regular and requires no food coloring) and then red. Pat down all layers really well using wax paper.

6. Let set for a bit, then cut, serve and enjoy!

 

4)    Mini S’mores

Supplies

• 4 graham cracker squares
• 16 tiny marshmallows
• 1 ½ ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped into pieces
• 1 teaspoon red, white and blue nonpareils or sprinkles

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler. Using a serrated knife, cut each graham cracker square into 4 and 1¼ -inch squares.

2. Place half of the squares on a baking sheet and top each with 2 tiny marshmallows.

3. Broil 3 inches from the heat for just a few seconds until the marshmallows start to brown. Remove and quickly top with remaining graham cracker squares.

4. Melt chocolate:  place chopped chocolate in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until melted.

5. Dip in melted chocolate, place on a plate or waxed paper, and sprinkle with red, white, and blue nonpareils.

6. Let stand until chocolate sets.  Eat and enjoy!