Fourth of July Cupcakes

Do you need a quick and easy idea for your fourth of July celebration? This is a dessert that comes together in a flash.

Start with white cupcakes.

I like this recipe because it makes delicious cupcakes with flat tops.

Yield: 36 cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 18 min

1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix (Duncan Heins)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of almond extract
1 cup sour cream
4 large egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pans.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Add remaining ingredients and beat with hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until well blended.

3. Use ice cream scoop to fill prepared cupcake tins- fill about 3/4 full. Bake about 18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely, then cut in half with a sharp knife like this:

 Wash berries and drain well on paper towel. You can use fresh or frozen blueberries and strawberries or raspberries for a red, white, and blue theme.

Put a dollop of cool whip on your split cupcake and arrange berries on whip cream.

Put the two halves together, top with a dollop of cool whip and garnish with berries.

See? Quick, easy, and so good!

Pecan Pretzels

Here is a great recipe for holiday gatherings. It is fast and takes just a few ingredients.

And it is simple enough for children to help!

You will need mini-pretzels, Rolo candy, and pecan halves.
You will need equal amounts of each ingredient
Place pretzels in a single layer on a cookie sheet
Put one Rolo on each pretzel.

When each pretzel has a Rolo on top, place in oven at 250 degrees and heat for 2-3 minutes

After cooking, the Rolo should still hold its shape, not look melted, but be soft to the touch.
Press a pecan half onto the top of each warm Rolo, flattening out the Rolo.

Let cool before eating (if you can!). Don't eat too many!

Cookie Turkeys

These turkeys are great edible decorations, easy enough

for children to make. You will need:

chocolate cookie wafers

chocolate frosting

gum drops

chocolate chips

red hots or mini M & Ms

candy corn

The grocery store sells these wafers in the cookie section

Cut a piece off the bottom of a cookie with a sharp knife.

Frost one cut cookie and one uncut cookie. Use enough frosting

so that everything sticks together.

Place the cut side of the cookie toward the back of the round cookie and put a gum drop

for the body in front

Stick on a chocolate chip for the head, using frosting. I usually use a semi sweet chip,

today I had butterscotch.

Put a red hot beneath the chocolate chip for the waddle, again using frosting to stick it on.

Add candy corn to the cut, upright cookie for feathers

Let your turkey sit for awhile to firm up the frosting.

Make enough for everyone!

I am Thankful For.....

My family had a Thanksgiving tradition when our children were growing up. Every year a few weeks before Thanksgiving, we begin to keep a "thankful bag". I had a brown paper bag that my children decorated to look like a turkey, but you could use any container you want.

Starting early in November we would take a few minutes at the supper table and each family member would write down why they were thankful for a particular child in the family. Each night we would choose a different child until each child had been our "thankful child" two or three times.

We would put the paper slips into the bag and the Family Home Evening night before Thanksgiving Dad would pull the slips out of the bag, one by one, and read them aloud. It was always fun to read what the children had written, and even funner to listen to when the comment was about YOU. Even the smallest children participated, having Mom or Dad write their answer for them. We found that if we focused on one child each night, each child would end up with an equal number of comments.