4th of July Recipes

4th of July Recipes

Summer is officially here and we are ready to kick it off with a fun day in the sun this Fourth of July! Some of our MM team is beach bound while others are looking forward to a day relaxing with family closer to home… and the pool!

Regardless of where we are, the 4th will be sweeter with these treats near by!

Below are 5 easy recipes to enjoy before lighting the sparklers.

Red, White & Blue Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Labor Day - these Red, White and Blue Chocolate Covered Strawberries will be the perfect way to celebrate these patriotic holiday's!

Ingredients

• 1 pint Strawberries
• Wilton Chocolate Disc Melts
• Blue and White
• Patriotic Jimmies, Patriotic Jimmies, nonpareils, Blue Sugar Crystals , Edible Glitter

Instructions

• In a microwave safe bowl, melt white candy discs for 30 second intervals until melted.
• Dip strawberries about half way up and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Let dry for 5-10 minutes.
• Melt blue candy discs the same as you did the white discs.
• Dip a few strawberries in the blue discs about ¼ way up, then add sprinkles. Dip a few in the white discs and add sprinkles. Place back on the parchment paper and let dry.
• Enjoy!                                                                                                  

Strawberries, Blueberries, Feta Cheese Salad 

Ingredients Instructions

• To assemble your mason jars, start by pouring in 2 tablespoons poppy seed dressing. Top with 1/2 cup strawberries, 1/4 cup feta, 1/4 cup blueberries, and finally 1 cup lettuce. Repeat with the second mason jar.
• To eat, pour mason jar contents into a bowl and toss if necessary.

Red, White, and Blue Bark

Ingredients

• 16 oz bright white candy melts or equal amounts of white chocolate
• 6 oz royal blue candy melt
• 6 oz red candy melts
• Red white and blue m&m's pieces Handful of oreo cookies crushed into bite sized
• Red white and blue star sprinkles
• Red white and blue jimmies

Instructions

• Place oreo cookies into a resealable plastic bag, seal, and gently hit with a rolling pin to break cookies into pieces. Set aside.
• Line an 11x15" jelly roll pan (or regular 9x13" pan), with aluminum foil and spray very lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
• Place a small saucepan with about 1 inch of water on the stove and heat on LOW until barely simmering. Pour bright white candy melts in a large glass bowl (that fits inside the saucepan so that the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water).
• Place bowl over the top of the saucepan, creating a double boiler. Use a rubber spatula to stir candy melts until melted and smooth. Do not allow any liquid to come in contact with the candy melts.
• Pour red candy melts in a small microwaveable bowl, and pour blue candy melts in another microwaveable bowl.
• Microwave the blue candy melts at 70% power, in 30-45 second intervals, until most of the way melted. Remove from microwave and stir to let the residual heat melt the remaining bits.
• Repeat process with the red candy melts.
• Pour melted white candy melts into jelly roll pan and use rubber spatula to smooth into an even layer.
• Alternate drizzling melted red candy melts and blue candy melts in vertical lines over the surface of the melted white candy melts. (you could also just spoon bits of red and blue in a non-pattern over the surface as well).
• Using a small wooden skewer or butter knife, swirl in a figure eight pattern to swirl the red and blue into the white. Repeat over the entire pan. You're not looking for a pattern here, just pretty swirls.
• Sprinkle swirled candy melts with oreo pieces, m&m's, star sprinkles and jimmies.
• Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, or until hardened.
• Lift edges of aluminum foil to remove bark from pan, and separate the bark from the foil.
• Break into pieces.
• Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Red, White, and Blueberry Popsicles 

Yield: makes 10 popsicles

Ingredients

• 1 heaping cup raspberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup vanilla flavored Greek yogurt

Instructions

• Using a small 4 cup food processor, or blender, puree the raspberries until smooth. Set aside.
• Do the same with the blueberries. (If your blueberries are super purple, add a little blue food coloring.)
• Put the yogurt and each of the berry purees in small measuring cups with spouts. The goal is to thin them just a bit so they are pourable. Use water for the yogurt and the raspberries, and, depending on the color of your blueberries, you can use water, or yogurt if you need to brighten up your 'blue'. Keep these cups chilling in the refrigerator when you are not using them.
• To layer your pops, start by pouring a little of the blueberry in the bottom of each mold. The only tricky part to these popsicles is getting the layers in without too much spillage to mar your stripes.
• Put the mold in the freezer and freeze till firm, at least an hour, or more.
• Layer a little bit of yogurt into each mold for the next stripe. You will be able to see through the side of the mold to check your progress. At this point, cover the top of the mold with foil, and insert the popsicle sticks. Make sure to get the stick a little bit into the frozen layer so they will stand straight. Put back into the freezer until solid.
• Remove the foil at this stage, you won't need it since the stick is in and you need to layer. Next comes your raspberry stripe, and so on until the molds are filled. Make sure to freeze each stripe until solid before adding the next. Don't worry if the stripes are uneven, but do try to clean up any dribbles as you go.
• Once filled and completely frozen solid, you can un-mold your pops. Fill the sink with hot water. Remove the foil, and immerse the mold just up to the lip, being careful not to let any water splash onto the top. Hold it for 30 seconds, remove, and try to pull the pops out. If they don't slide out, immerse again for just a few seconds.
• We recommend keeping the popsicles in the mold until you are ready to serve, or, if you are working in batches, wrap each pop quickly in waxed paper or put into a baggie and put back in the freezer. We don't recommend making these more than a day in advance.

Red, White, and Blue Fruit Skewers with Cheesecake Yogurt Dip

“If you need a quick dessert that doesn’t require much work, it doesn’t get easier than this! These fresh strawberry, blueberry and angel food cake skewers are perfect for Memorial Day.” -SkinnyTaste

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake dipping sauce:

• 4 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup raw sugar

For the skewers:

• 14 oz angel foods cake, cut about 1-inch cubes
• 72-84 medium strawberries (about 3.5 lbs) stems removed
• 1 pint blueberries
• 24 to 28 skewers

Instructions:

• In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese with yogurt, vanilla and sugar. Mix well until sugar dissolves; set aside.
• Thread 3 strawberries and 2 cubes of cake onto each skewer, alternating between strawberries and cake.
• Finish each skewers with 3 blueberries.
• Place finished skewers on a platter and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Be sure to share your favorite 4th of July treats with us on Instagram!