Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

The Fourth of July is tomorrow, and I'm actually not as excited as I should be.  Mother Nature has once again decided to turn things upside down, and we're in the middle of a tropical storm...?  This means that my plans to picnic and barbecue and grill hot dogs and toast marshmallows for s'mores has turned into an indoor potluck lunch with friends.  I'm sure it'll still be a fun time, and I'm making chocolate chip cookies, which always make my day better.  Regardless it's a bit of a bummer knowing that my favorite Fourth of July activities probably aren't going to be happening.  At least there will be cookies and potentially clear skies at night, so fireworks are still a possibility!  I'll be making the best of my rainy day Fourth of July (except that I'm switching my patriotism at 4 for the Colombia-Brazil game, because that's historic and too important to be missed), but that's not to say that I won't be crossing my fingers for nice weather until it's picnic time!

Hopefully where you live you'll be having a much nicer Fourth of July.  I hope your day is full of sunshine, zero humidity, and a cool breeze.  It's not too much to ask for, right?  It's just a little perfect barbecue weather.  I'm sure that you all have your Fourth of July barbecue menus planned out by now (or at least I hope you do), but like Mother Nature, I'm going to have to turn things upside down with some sugar cookies.  These soft sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting absolutely must become a late, last minute addition to your menu, because they're EASY to make, CUTE to look at, and DELICIOUS to eat.  Easy cute and delicious are the defining qualities of any last minute dessert addition, so these cookies are obviously a must.

Strawberry Pie

Happy July, everyone!  The Fourth is the day after tomorrow, and I can't believe it's already here.  It seems like just yesterday that  New York was covered in snow and super cold temperatures, and yet here we are in the middle of summer.  I'm not complaining though!  New York had a rough winter, and I was so sick of the cold and snow by the time it finally ended.  The lovely weather we've been having recently has definitely helped me to forget about the chilly winter season, but I know that before long, the hot and humid days of summer will arrive and I'll be ready for the arrival of cooler weather.  Until that happens though, let's celebrate summer!  

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite parts of summer, and what's more American than celebrating the Fourth with some pie?  I love a good pie, and experimenting with pie is one of my favorite adventures to have in my kitchen.  Every time I set out to make a pie I learn something new that I try to write down to remember for next time.  Making a good pie has been an extensive learning process, filled with some really bad pies and some really stellar pies.  Like all good things though, good pies take practice, and I'm willing to keep working on mine until I get them perfect!

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Mixed Berries

It's almost here, it's almost here! It's almost the Fourth of July! With this holiday now less than a week away, it's time to whip up some delicious and summer treats in our favorite shades of red, white, and blue.  For me, red and blue mean BERRIES.  Artificially dyed treats like cupcakes and cookies dyed in unnatural shades of colors really weird me out (pastel is ok, but super bright and fluorescent is just not ok), so strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are my way of getting my red and blue fix.  Actually, the ultimate red, white, and blue dessert for me would be a simple bowl of strawberries and blueberries topped off with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.  It's the easiest thing in the world to make and it screams summer.  

I thought that I would take a cue from my ultimate easy summer dessert as a starting point for a simple and refined approach to a Fourth of July dessert.  Berries with fresh whipped cream has turned into panna cotta with macerated berries; it sounds fancy, but it's still a really easy dessert!  In Italian, panna cotta means "cooked cream," and that's literally what this dessert is. Panna cotta is traditionally a mixture of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin that gets cooked together, poured into a mold or cup, and then left in the fridge to chill until solidified. It's a very straightforward dish, and takes very little effort and time to prepare.  Essentially, if you can prepare a batch of Jell-O, you should have no problem making panna cotta.

Red, White, and Blueberry Profiteroles

The Fourth of July is tomorrow, weeee!  I'm going to a barbecue with some of my friends in the afternoon, and then going to see some fireworks action at night, and I'm super excited, if the "weeee" at the beginning wasn't a hint. I'm ready for some serious hot dog/hamburger/potato salad/pasta salad action, followed by some pie and vanilla ice cream, and hopefully some old fashioned s'mores.  It's gonna be a gooood day, provided that it doesn't rain! Everyone, cross your fingers and toes, please. 

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I'm sure you've noticed the Fourth of July-appropriate desserts that I have posted in the past few days (and if you haven't, I'll make it easy for you: click here for some red, white, and blue velvet whoopie pies, and click here for a classic cherry pie.  You're welcome!).  Both of those desserts were good old American classics, but, I did want to throw in something that was equally delicious and appropriate for a Fourth of July barbecue, but also something a bit more unconventional.  Enter red, white, and blueberry profiteroles!

Profiteroles may sound fancy and annoyingly complicated to make, but I promise you, they're anything but that! A profiterole is simply a cream puff that's been filled with a scoop of ice cream instead of pastry cream/whipped cream, and then drizzled with chocolate sauce.  Since it is the Fourth of July though, I decided to swap out the chocolate sauce for some fresh blueberry and raspberry sauces, in order to keep the color scheme going to some degree.  I thought that profiteroles would be a perfect option for a barbecue, as the puffs themselves are really not difficult to make, and everything can be made and assembled in advance.  All you'll have to do when you're ready to serve them is take them out of the freezer for a few minutes and pour some of the berry sauce on top, and dessert is done!

Classic Sweet Cherry Pie

One of my most extreme summer obsessions involves cherries...lots of cherries.  I am a self-proclaimed cherry fiend, and I simply cannot get enough of these beautiful little summer fruits.  I'm addicted to them, and I have determined that there is no cure for this addiction, and to be very frank, that's totally ok with me.  I will live happily with my summer cherry obsession.  

I love eating cherries when they're fresh, and as is.  If you were to put a giant bowl of cherries, or the usual 2 1/2 pound bag that they sell in the supermarket, in front of me, there's a very good chance that I could eat every single last cherry, completely unassisted (and believe me, this has happened once or twice before).  I tend not to bake with fresh cherries too often (although this cherry clafoutis is a delicious exception, and you should definitely try it out if you're in need of an easy dessert), simply because I can't bear the thought of not being able to enjoy the cherries in their natural state.  This is actually a problem that I have to deal with during the summer almost all the time, and with all fruits in general, to be honest.  I mean, I love the idea of mixing up a fabulous peach cobbler, a refreshing champagne mango sorbet, and a beautiful mixed berry crisp as much as the next crazed food blogger/general population, but eating fruit in its fresh state is an idea that I love even more, especially because in the summertime, these fruits are at their peak, and you just can't find really delicious peaches, champagne mangoes, or mixed berries, let alone cherries, in the dead of winter.  I sometimes feel like I am doing a disservice to the fruit itself by enjoying it in any other form than its natural state. 

But then, I decide to get over my semi-existential crisis mode, and instead bake myself a pie.   

Red, White, and Blue Velvet Whoopie Pies

It's that time of year again!  Can you believe we're already only a few days from the Fourth of July?  It's pretty crazy, but what's even crazier is that we're also officially less than 6 months away from Christmas.  Yes, I am perfectly aware that that's a very random thought, but I figured I would share it anyway, only because I mentioned it to my mom a day or two ago, and she definitely could not believe that time had flown by as fast as it had.  I still have trouble believing it at times!  In any case though, even though winter and Christmas and cold weather dishes like spiced gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate are some of my favorite things, I'm not going to think about them right now or let them get to me.  It's summertime, and we need to embrace it!  What better way to embrace summer than by celebrating the defining summer holiday that is the Fourth of July.  I personally love the holiday, as barbecues and fireworks are totally my thing, because any holiday that gives me the an opportunity to eat an absurd amount of hot dogs and hamburgers is my kind of celebration.  As much as I miss living in New York City (and believe me, I really, really, really do), being on Long Island for Independence Day is the definitely best.  I can't imagine not being able to have a barbecue in my own backyard, and being only a ten minute drive from the beach and the boardwalk, and only having to walk around the block (literally) to see a really awesome fireworks show just makes the holiday on Long Island even more perfect.  I guess living in suburbia isn't always that bad!

I'm usually not a fan of dying foods into crazy colors, because bright, unnatural coloring is usually a big turnoff for me, but when the Fourth of July rolls around, turning white things into red and blue things is always inevitable.  I mean, I love using blueberries and raspberries just as much as any other foodie out there, but sometimes I just want something really sweet and cakey and well...fruitless.  Enter these red, white, and blue velvet whoopie pies. There's definitely no fruit in these little cookies (cakes? pies? who knows...)!

Blueberry Pie

It happened again this weekend...the amazing blueberry sale at the supermarket came back.  Last year, the sale was offering blueberries at 99 cents a pint.  This year, you could buy a case of 6 pints for $7.00.  Maybe not as good as last year, but whatever...this sale was still pretty legit, and I made sure to take full advantage of it.  My love for fresh blueberries is just too much to let something like this pass by.  I think I bought two cases on Sunday. I think my mom went back and bought a couple more cases this week.  That's a lot of blueberries. Here's the sad part though...we don't really have that many left...

 

You'd think that buying tons and tons of blueberries like we did would ensure that they would last quite some time, but you'd actually be wrong.  My sister and I kind of just...ate them.  We ate SO many.  I didn't even get to freeze any of them!  What is wrong with me!  What am I going to do later in the year when there are no fresh blueberries to be found!?  Thank goodness for rainchecks...phew!  I still have a chance to get some more berries, and I promise to stick those straight in the freezer and store them for later in the year.  But until I get myself to the supermarket to do that, let me tell you what I did with the berries that I was able to restrain myself from eating straight out of the container.  I made a fresh blueberry pie! 

Red, White, and Blue Rainbow Cookies

I made it clear in my “About Me” page that I love rainbow cookies.  I really, really do.  They’re small, and bite sized, and come in such adorable colors that it’s hard not to love them.  Unless you don’t really like almonds.  Then I guess I can see where the problem would lie.  I do not have this problem though, thank goodness.

I had always wanted to make rainbow cookies, and I had never realized how simple they were to make.  Incredibly delayed, yet very simple to make.  By delayed, I just mean that they have to spend a long time in the refrigerator so that the layers compress, but that’s not really a big deal.  Cooking time-wise and assembly-wise…they’re pretty simple.