patriotic | EASYBAKED

Fire Cracker Cookies!!

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Ruthanne

These fun little fire cracker cookies have a crackling surprise inside– pop rock candy! A perfect treat for your Fourth of July celebrations!!!

I can’t believe it’s almost July already- this summer is passing too fast…! These cookies were a HUGE hit among my friends- the experience of eating a cookie that is popping in your mouth is truly a unique one, and everyone was a huge fan!

I adore sugar cookies…especially in the summer. They are so…expected at Christmas- but the 4th of July? Such a fun treat! These are easy to make and cut just beautifully. The dipping in candy melts takes a little time, but the end result is just so fun!

Here’s how we made these: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 60 circles that end up at 20 completed cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of butter flavoring
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 bags of Wilton Candy Melts in red, white and blue
Star sprinkles
3 packets of Pop Rocks in any flavor
String licorice (or the pull-apart kind works too)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs, vanilla and butter flavoring and mix well.
Add all dry ingredients and mix until able to knead into a firm ball of dough (add additional flour if necessary).
Roll out on a floured counter with a flour coated rolling pin to desired thickness (I made them fairly thick)
Cut about 60 circles using a cookie cutter (I used a 1″ cookie cutter)
Use a smaller circle cutter to cut out a center circle from 20 of these cookies.
Place cookies on cookie sheets covered in parchment paper and bake at 350F degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
Slide baked cookies and parchment paper together onto a counter to cool completely.
Melt candy melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until smooth.
Dip 1/3 of cookies into blue melts first and allow them to harden slightly before setting a snip of licorice on top. You may need to experiment with this a bit. The melts need to be soft enough to stick the licorice in, and hard enough to hold it upright.
Dip remaining cookies- 1/3 into red and 1/3 into white melts (add star sprinkles on the sides of the white cookies) and allow them to harden completely.
Put the cookies together by piping or spreading a little white candy melt on the bottom of the white piece and setting it on the red. Fill the open spot in the white cookie with pop rocks, pipe or spread a little white candy melt on the top ring of the white cookie and set the blue cookie on the very top. Allow cookies to harden together. Enjoy!!

My thoughts: These take a little time, but they are genuinely fun to make and SO fun to serve! I loved the giggles at those surprise Pop Rocks in the middle!!! I hope you get a chance to try them!!!

Other fun summer cookie recipes: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

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Posted in Cookies and tagged cookies, cookies for kids, dessert, firecrackers, fourth of July, fun, independence day, patriotic, pop rocks, recipe, stars and stripes, Wilton candy melts. Bookmark the permalink.

Bomb Pop Cupcakes!!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Ruthanne

Does anything scream SUMMER, or FOURTH OF JULY like Bomb Pops? These adorable cupcakes capture the flavors of an iconic summertime popsicle and make a perfect holiday treat!

You know those memories from childhood that spring up unexpectedly and make you smile? Bomb Pops have that effect on me. My brother and I always spent a week or two at my grandparents house each summer. They had an immaculately clean garage with a huge freezer in it. Grandma would always keep a box of bomb pops inside for our visits. I remember so clearly, sitting out on her porch eating these in the evenings, letting the drips of sweet popsicle land on the cement by my bare feet. Every time I eat one, it’s like traveling back in time to those days.

I wanted to capture the flavors of these summer treats in cupcake form, and I love how these turned out! The kids in my life who tried them exclaimed, “These taste like popsicles!”

I consider that a success!

These were not hard to make at all- simply add jello to white cake mix and pipe the batter into cupcake liners in layers.

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed white cake mix (with oil, water and eggs to make according to package)
One small box of blue raspberry Jell-O (Jolly Rancher had this flavor, and Jell-O has a Berry Blue that works)
One small box of Cherry Jell-O
2 sticks of salted butter (at room temperature)
2 sticks of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
3 cups of powdered sugar
3 teaspoons of lemon extract or flavoring (technically the flavor in the popsicles is lime…but I couldn’t easily get my hands on lime extract. The lemon was great- but feel free to use lime instead, if you want!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Make cake mix as directed on box, and divide batter equally into two bowls.
Add 3 Tablespoons of Blue Raspberry Jell-O to one bowl, and 3 Tablespoons of Cherry Jell-O to the other bowl.
Mix each bowl of batter until well combined
Place each flavor of batter into a large, sturdy (I use freezer-type) zip top bag.
Clip a corner off the bag of Blue Raspberry batter and evenly pipe into 24 cupcake liners placed into muffin tins.
Clip a corner off the bag of Cherry batter and evenly pipe over the top of the Blue Raspberry batter.
Bake cupcakes as directed on boxed mix, remove from oven, and cool.
Make frosting by combining butters, powdered sugar and lemon extract in a large bowl. Beat on low until combined and then high, until light and fluffy.
Put frosting into a large, sturdy zip-top bag that has been fitted with a decorating tip, and pipe frosting on the top of each cupcake.
Decorate as desired. I saw these cute little Mike and Ike “popsicle” toppers on a fun site called Party Pinching. They were fun and easy to make, but they use toothpicks and could be dangerous to serve- especially to kids. I love how cute they are, but I can’t recommend them. Use cute sprinkles and maybe a popsicle stick instead!
Enjoy!