4th of July Food
We made a trip to visit my dad in Shreveport, Louisiana this weekend for our July 4th celebration. I knew we would have some visitors drop by throughout the weekend, and I was feeling a bit creative. So I made easy, hand-held foods in theme of the holiday. And I basically cooked all things that I love.
Patriotic Oreo Pops
Sophie helped make these on Friday afternoon. She loved it. We did have some trouble with melting the candy: I did not read the melting instructions and over-cooked one batch of red. Ours definitely did not look like the Pinterest image, but it all worked out in the end.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- Candy Melts in Red, White and Royal Blue
- Oreo Cookies
- 4″ Lollipop Sticks
- Assorted Sprinkles
Directions:
- Twist apart all of the Oreo cookies.
- Melt the Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments on DEFROST (this is important, it turns out), stirring until completely melted and smooth.
- Drizzle a dollop of the white melts in the center of the white cookie filling and then gently press a pop stick into it and top with the other cookie half.
- Holding the stick, lower the entire Oreo into the bowl of melted candy, spooning it over the top and sides to cover it completely. Alternate colors to have an array of red, white and blue.
- Allow the excess melted candy to drain off and gently place covered Oreo on a piece of parchment paper to harden.
- Top with sprinkles and drizzle with different colors of the melted candy. We did this by spooning the candy into a plastic bag and cutting the corner to make a pastry bag.
Truffle Deviled Eggs
I love, love, loved deviled eggs. But I have never made them before. I decided to try Truffle Deviled Eggs because one of our favorite restaurants in Little Rock have these on the menu and I am constantly craving them. Of course mine did not turn out as good as those at The Pantry, but we loved them.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 12 eggs; cooked, cooled, and peeled
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp white truffle oil
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Ground paprika, for garnish
Directions:
- Halve the peeled eggs lengthwise.
- Remove the yolks and place in a medium bowl, set the egg whites aside.
- Using two forks, break apart the egg yolks.
- Add the mayo, Dijon, truffle oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
- Continue to mash until completely smooth, and season to taste with salt and pepper (we ended up using a whisk).
- Using a resealable bag with the corner cut off – pipe the yolk mixture into the egg white halves.
- Garnish with paprika.
Mac & Cheese Cupcakes
I cannot express how much I love macaroni and cheese. When I stumbled upon this "cupcake" recipe on Pinterest, I couldn't resist trying it out.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups dried macaroni noodles
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided in 2 and 1 cups
- 4 eggs
- 1.5 sticks salted butter, 1 stick melted, 1⁄2 stick cold and cubed
- 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed
- 1⁄2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup milk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cook macaroni, according to package and do the following steps while it's cooking.
- In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, crushed buttery crackers and 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, beat 4 eggs together. Add milk, sour cream and cold cubed butter and combine.
- Once macaroni is cooked, toss into a large bowl with a cup of cheddar cheese. Combine.
- Add egg/milk/sour cream mix to macaroni bowl and stir together.
- Use muffin tins lined with muffin cups. Lightly pray muffin cups with nonstick spray.
- Press a spoonful of cheese/butter/cracker mixture into the bottom of each cup. Fill the rest of the muffin cup with the macaroni mixture.
- Sprinkle any left over cracker/cheddar mix on top of each macaroni cupcake.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cupcakes come out firm, golden brown and toasted.
Hot Dog Rockets
These were super easy to make and displayed nicely on our table, giving our spread some height. And great for the kiddos.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
- 2 packages of 8 hot dogs, 16 total
- 1 block of colby cheese
- 16 wooden skewers
Directions:
- Stick skewers all the way through hot dogs leaving about an inch exposed out of the top of each hot dog.
- Unroll crescent dough and cut each triangle in even halves. Then wrap each hotdog with a strip of the crescent dough, leaving spaces between each wrap.
- Place the wrapped dogs on parchment paper and bake according to the package directions for the crescent roll dough. We cooked ours for 20 minutes at 350-degrees.
- While the hot dogs are cooking, slice colby cheese into 1/4" slices. Cut each slice into four triangles to make the top of the "rockets."
- After the hot dogs have cooled for 2-3 minutes, stick the cheese through the skewer at the top.