Happy Independance Day, America! I’ve prepared a couple of simple and easy dessert ideas to celebrate this awesome holiday. They won’t take up a lot of your time, but will add some colour and festive spirit to your table. You can use these recipes to put some treats on your table or you can give these treats away as gifts. Either way I hope you will like these.
1. Jello ShotsThese are really easy to make, all you have to do is layer the blue, white and red jello accordingly and voila, your 4th of July treat is done. Depending on who you’re making these jello shots for the ingredients will vary. If you want these to be for kids, then just follow the instructions of the box, or substitute water for juice. However, if you’re making treats for adults you can add a splash of alcohol into them for extra fun.
2. Cupcakes This recipe allows you to bake any cupcake you want, it’s all up to you and your tastes. The decoration is where the festive part comes in. You can decorate your cupcakes with red white and blue frosting and arrange them in the form of an American flag. Or you could decorate all the cupcakes with white frosting and add fruit for colour. Represent the right stripes by adding some strawberry slices and use the blueberries to represent the stars.
3. Strawberries For a lighter dessert option you can use strawberries and just dip them into white and blue frosting. But if you want them to taste really yummy, I suggest melting some white chocolate and separating them into 2 different bowls. Keep one of these as it is, and add some blue food colouring to the other. Now you can dip your strawberries into white and blue chocolate. Festive and delicious. Double score!
4. Fruit platters or dessert kebabsThis is a super healthy option. All you need is some blue, white and red fruit. Arrange it on your plate in the form of a flag or make little fruit kebabs where you layer the fruit according to the flag colours. It’s super easy, and your kids are much more likely to eat some fruit if it’s presented in an interesting way.
5. PopsiclesDepending on how you like your popsicles you can make them with different ingredients. If you like them watery use cranberry juice, lemonade and a blue Gatorade. If you want them to be more substantial and have some fruits in them use strawberries, coconut milk, and blueberries. The instructions are pretty much the same for both. Pour one layer at a time and freeze until almost solid, then add the next layer and repeat until you’re done with all the layers. If you don’t have the time to play around with layers just use coconut water or milk and throw some strawberries and blueberries into it. It’ll look pretty when frozen either way.
6. Cake popsThis is pretty easy too. Make some regular cake pops and decorate them accordingly. You can attempt to decorate each single one as a flag but that would take forever. I suggest you just make some of them blue, some white and some red and arrange them into a flag shape. For extra decoration you can add some rainbow sprinkles on top, to commemorate the recent change in legislation.
7. Ice cubesIt’s summer and it’s hot outside. If you don’t feel like doing much, just freeze some festive ice cubes. Either add food colouring to the water or just put some strawberry pieces and blueberries in your ice. Everyone will want ice in their drink and this way you’ll make all drinks festive. As an alternative just use frozen blueberries and strawberries instead of ice. They will cool your drink just the same without watering it down.
8. Festive cocktailsThis treat is for adults only. You’ll need Grenadine, Bacardi Razz Rum, Blue Curacao Liqueur and some good old fashioned lemonade. First fill the glass, or mason jar, with ice. Splash some grenadine on the bottom, then slowly pour the rum over the ice. After that carefully add some lemonade and pour Blue Curacao on top. Your festive cocktail is done. You can decorate the glass with some fruit or just stick a little American flag into it. Cheers!