4th of July Treats from Jan

by Jan Richey | June 26, 2012

With the 4^th of July holiday approaching, are you looking for some festive treats and drinks to add to your party menu? Here are a sprinkling of favorites from the Jan Richey Team … enjoy!

1. Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cupcakes (make your own or keep it simple and buy pre-prepared at the store), frosting (preferably vanilla), red, white, and blue sprinkles, and waffle cones.

Directions:
Sit your cone in a glass and pop in an unwrapped cupcake. Add frosting to the cupcake and spread with a knife or spatula covering the front/exposed part of the cupcake.  Next, pipe on your frosting.  Add the sprinkles and you are set!  Fill a red or blue metal beverage tub with festive candies and gently set the cones inside (as pictured).  Remember, it’s all about the presentation!

Photo and recipe courtesy of lovefromtheoven.com.

2. Watermelon Ice Pops
Makes 8 pops

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups watermelon chunks
1/2 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt

Directions:
Seed the watermelon.  In a blender container, combine the watermelon chunks, sugar and salt.  Blend on high speed until the mixture is liquid (some small chunks of melon are okay).  Pour the mixture into a measuring cup with a spout and then divide the mixture evenly among 8 frozen fruit pop molds. Insert the sticks. Freeze the ice pops for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Sweet Treats, by Carolyn Beth Weil (Simon & Schuster, 2006). Photo courtesy of ourbestbites.com.

3. Raspberry Beer Cocktail

Ingredients:
1 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries
4 bottles of Corona (12oz) beer, chilled
1 container frozen raspberry lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup good quality vodka
Garnish: lime slices or raspberries

Directions:
In a large container stir together the first four ingredients. Serve over ice.  Garnish with raspberries.  To make ahead, stir together lemonade concentrate and vodka in a large container.  Stir in raspberries and beer just before serving. For some panache, serve in mason jars and add a festive red, white, and blue straw!  Garnish, if desired.

Recipe courtesy of acupofmai.com.  Photo courtesy of Pinterest.  Adapted from Southern Living.