Archive for the ‘july 4/memorial day’ Category

For our deep blue sea bash I also made flip flop crispy pops. I’ve mentioned before that my youngest has severe food allergies and these are a great non-dairy (and non-egg) treat. They’re really super simple to make and a great end of summer treat even if you’re not having a party!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Rice crispy cereal
• Marshmallows
• Butter (Smart Balance Vegan for non-dairy)
• White cake icing 
• Gel food coloring
• Resealable bags (2 per color you plan to use)
• Icing connectors, #4 and #103 Wilton tips (both easily found at craft stores)
• Candy decorations
• Wax paper
• Lollippop sticks
• Flip flop cookie cutter (available with our sleepover decor)
• Toothpicks
• Optional: Clear cello bags and ribbon

And here are the super simple steps:

1. Lay out a piece of wax paper and grease your cookie cutter with a little bit of butter.
2. Make your rice crispy treats like you normally would and as soon as you can stand to touch them, while they’re still hot/warm, mold them into the flip flop cookie cutter (making your top as flat as possible for easy icing), set them aside and let them cool. TIP: A little butter on your hands will keep the crispy treats from sticking to you! (One batch should yield 8.)
3. Now tint your icing and separate each color into two bowls. One will be for flooding and the other for piping. We used green and blue to make them as boy-like as possible. {wink}
4. Insert your lollipop sticks. You want to do this before icing them. If you wait your icing could crack.
5. Insert your piping icing into a resealable bag with a #4 tip and connector. Pipe an outline, like you’re coloring a picture, around each flip flop you want that color and allow them to set for a minute. (Tip: You are creating a barrier for the thinned icing, known as flooding, so if you see any gaps between your barrier and your rice crispy, pipe in a little extra so that your thinned icing doesn’t run out.)
6. Insert the second set of icing, the same color as the barrier, into a resealable bag and heat it 10-15 seconds or until runny. Snip a small corner off the bag and pipe it into the center of your flip flop. You may need to pull the thinned icing to the corners with a toothpick. Allow the icing to set if you want it to be one color, OR using another color of thinned icing you can drip (for polka dots) or drag (for stipes) while the first color is still wet.
7. For the flip flop straps, use a #103 Wilton tip and start just next to where the big toe should be! {wink}
8. Embellish with a candy; we used stars. And since my guy was turning five, we also piped a five on each flip flop.

Here’s another shot showing how we displayed them in sand buckets!

Just be creative and let the kids join in. It’s a little messy, but super fun! Oh, and we made some shark, fish, turtle and seahorse chocolate pops too using a Wilton candy mold and colored chocolates.

I’ll share our splash bash favors with you tomorrow! Happy baking everyone.

In search for a few table ideas for our family fourth of  July gathering this weekend, I liked these the most. The image above is from Pottery Barn. My favorite is the berry cupcakes… imagine that!

These are both from Martha Stewart and I have to admit that my favorite pieces are props in the background: the bucket with ribbons and the red, white and blue lollipops. Just goes to show that you can dress up any table with a few simple accessories.

Happy 4th everyone!

We should all treasure our American holidays: Memorial Day, July 4, Veteran’s Day. I’m proud that as a country we celebrate those who serve to protect us and those who have fallen to save us. 

These cupcakes are my (small as it may be) way of saying thank you to those in my family who have served (my hubby, all of his brothers, his dad and our neice and nephew; the two youngest in Iraq). I hope you enjoy them and make them for your next American celebration!

Here’s what you’ll need to decorate your cupcakes:

• Red, white and blue icing (remember that gel food coloring work best)
• #46 icing tip
• Lollipop sticks
• 2 resealable plastic bags
• 2 icing tip connectors

And here are the simple steps:

1. Once cooled, ice your cupcakes with white icing {cream cheese is my fav!}.
2. Color some white icing red and some blue. You’ll likely use several drops to get even a small amount of icing bright enough.
3. Snip the corners of your resealable bags and insert your connectors.
4. Spoon your red icing into one bag and your blue into another.
5. Apply your #46 icing tip to your blue bag and using the flat side pipe three stripes (1/3 the length of your flag) and then another stripe from the top {see picture}.
6. Take your icing tip off the blue bag, clean it out and apply it to the red bag. Pipe the red stripes starting at the top of the flag using your blue stripes as a guide to keep them even. Make sure you skip just below the blue as that should be a white stripe.
7. Finally, cut a lollipop stick in half and apply it to the side of the flag for your pole.

Have a wonderful holiday!