4th of July Party Treats - For Both Human & Horse

Top Fourth of July Party Treats

Planning a great Fourth of July party with the perfect red, white and blue treats can be overwhelming, especially if you are short on time. I have rounded up some of the most mouthwatering and easy to make party treats just for you!

For the Humans:

Firecracker Popcorn

Love they way Pop Rocks crackles and pops in your mouth? When you add it to popcorn, the mix will be like a fireworks party in your mouth. The sweet and salty flavor combos are unbeatable.

Recipe

1 bag of plain microwave popcorn, popped

1 square of melted white chocolate

2 Pop Rocks packets (Red and Blue colors would be ideal)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, drizzle the melted white chocolate over the popcorn and stir well until popcorn in evenly coated.

2. Stir in Pop Rocks until it is mixed throughout the popcorn.

3. On a baking sheet, spread the popcorn mixture out in a single layer. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes or until white chocolate has hardened. Serve.

Flag Fruit Pizza

The patriotic pizza may look like a work of art, but it only takes 20 minutes to prep! The guilt-free dessert is made with a Pillsbury crust, topped with yogurt and decorated with bananas, blueberries and strawberries.

Recipe

1 Pillsbury refrigerated Crescent Dough Sheet

2 cartons (8 oz total) vanilla or greek yogurt

3 cups of blueberries

3 bananas

1 pound strawberries

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. On a greased baking sheet, lay out the Crescent Seamless Dough Sheet to make a rectangle. (Gently shape the edges if need be, and push down the corners so that they do not flare up.) Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked and lightly golden. Remove and let cool to room temperature. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired.

3. Spread the yogurt on top of the dough sheet so that the entire pizza is covered, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the outside. Place the blueberries all around the outside to make a border, and then fill in the upper-right quadrant with a rectangle of blueberries.

4. On a cutting board, slice the strawberries and bananas into thin coins, and halve them if needed so that they are about the same size. Layer the strawberries and bananas onto the pizza to make red and white stripes.

5. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a few hours.

Red, White and Blueberry Trifle

A light and fluffy angel food cake combined with white chocolate pudding, whipped cream and fresh berries give this trifle a patriotic flare. A heavenly mixed berry trifle made with summer fresh blueberries, strawberries, white chocolate pudding, angel food cake and whipped cream.

Recipe:

10 oz angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 pints strawberries, sliced

2 pints blueberries

For the Cream Filling:

6 tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1 ½ cups cold water

1 (4 oz) package white chocolate or cheesecake instant pudding mix

12 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Whisk the condensed milk and water in a bowl. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping.

Arrange half of the cake in the bottom of a 14-cup trifle dish. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. Spread half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread (I piped it using a plastic bag and cut the corner off). Top with a layer of strawberries. Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then add more blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture. Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a pretty pattern. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Red Velvet Fourth of July Cupcakes

These red velvet cupcakes are not only my favorite, but they are a perfect Fourth of July dessert with the whipped cream topping and blueberries on top. You can also play around with the decorations by topping the cupcakes with raspberries and sprinkles for more red, white and blue!

Recipe:

Red Velvet Cake:

1 box red velvet cake mix

3 eggs

⅓ cup oil

1 cup milk

½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Topping:

8 oz. cream cheese, cold

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pint heavy whipping cream, cold

Blueberries, raspberries and patriotic sprinkles for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.

2. Sift cake mix into a large bowl.

3. Add eggs, oil, milk, sour cream and vanilla extract and stir until smooth.

4. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

5. Let cool.

6. Whipped Cream Topping: Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer (make sure bowl is cold), beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla. Slowly add in heavy cream and beat until stiff peaks form.

7. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with blueberries to give a red, white and blue look!

Blueberry, Strawberry and Jicama Salsa

This fresh fruit salsa has a sweet flavor from the strawberries and blueberries and a refreshing crunch from the jicama. Add some cilantro, red onion and lime to make this easy and delicious party snack. Add this festive Blueberry, Strawberry & Jicama Salsa to your 4th of July menu! And if you can’t wait until the 4th, no worries. It is a great snack for any summer day.

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup diced strawberries

1 cup diced jicama

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper, stemmed and seeded

Juice of 1 large lime

Salt, to taste

Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine blueberries, strawberries, jicama, cilantro, red onion, jalapeno, and lime juice. Stir until well combined. Season with salt, to taste. Serve with tortilla chips at room temperature or chilled.

Note-this salsa is also great with grilled fish or chicken. It is best eaten the day it is made.

Flag Dessert

Take a big tray, some yogurt covered pretzels and fresh fruit to make this clever and cute party platter. Spread the fruits and pretzels into separate rows to make a flag shape. A bowl of blueberries at the top left corner complete the look.

Recipe:

5-6 cups of red fresh fruit

2 cups of blueberries

3 cups of yogurt or white chocolate covered pretzels

Directions:

Wash fresh fruit and dry. Lay out fruit and pretzels to represent the flag stripes, and place a small bowl of blueberries on the top left.

4th of July Rice Krispies Balls

Rice Krispies cereal, butter, marshmallows and white melting chocolate is all you need to make this delicious bite-sized snack. Add some red, white and blue sprinkles for the perfect topping.

Recipe:

6 cups rice Krispy cereal

3 Tbsp. salted butter

40 regular-sized marshmallows

16 oz. white melting chocolate

Red, white, and blue sprinkles

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine butter and marshmallows and heat over medium heat. Stir until there are only a few lumps of marshmallows left and butter is completely melted.

2. Add the rice krispies and stir until the krispies are completely coated.

3. Roll rice krispies into 1 inch balls and place on wax paper.

4. When all the krispies are rolled, melt chocolate according to package directions.

5. Dip the krispy treats in the chocolate and place back on the wax paper.

6. Before the chocolate hardens all the way, shake some sprinkles on top and then let sit until chocolate is hard.

Brownie and Fruit Kebabs

Have fun with this clever idea to dress up kebabs with brownies, marshmallows and fruit. This recipe is a perfect dessert that requires minimal effort but has maximum taste.

Recipe:

Skewers

Brownies

Strawberries

Blueberries

Marshmallows

Fudge Sauce to drizzle on top

Directions:

1. Start with a pan of baked and cooled brownies (preferably thrown in the refrigerator to chill and firm up to glorious decadent proportions),

2. Choose a few other kebab-worthy items, such as fruit (strawberries and blueberries in this case), marshmallows, etc – the sky's the limit here,

3. Thread the brownies and fruit onto the skewers, drizzle with chocolate sauce if desired (why not??) and eat.

For the Horses:

Here are a couple classic horse treat recipes with some added suggestions to spruce them up specially for the Fourth of July celebrations.

Please note that if your horse has Cushing’s and/or a metabolic syndrome these treats may not be good for your horse. My horse, Mory, can’t have sugar due to something similar so he’ll just gets some good ‘ol alfalfa treats.

Low Starch Apple Cinnamon Treats

Recipe:

1 lb. bag of Bob’s Red Mill organic ground flaxseed (from Wal-Mart or grocery store)

½ cup Unsweetened applesauce

2 tbs. Cinnamon

2 cups hot water

Cookie sheet, and parchment or wax paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dump flaxseed into mixing bowl. Add Cinnamon; mix. Add applesauce, then HOT water. Initially mix with rubber spatula, then use your hands until the dough is smooth.

Cover cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. (Do NOT use cooking spray.) Place dough on paper covered cookie sheet to evenly cover it. The thinner you spread the dough, the crunchier your horse cookies will be. Cut the dough into squares BEFORE baking; this allows them to come apart easily after baking. They are difficult to cut apart once baked.

Place in preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes for chewy cookies, and 75 minutes for crunchy cookies. After that, turn off the oven and let them sit in the warm oven for another 30 minutes.

The cookies shrink during baking. Once cool, they break apart easily. Store in a baggie or plastic container in the refrigerator so they will not mold if not eaten quickly. (Thinner, crunchier cookies are less apt to mold.)

4th of July Trick: After baking and a few minutes of cooling, add blueberries and raspberries on top of the treats for added 4th of July spirit.

Classic Peppermint Treats

Your horse will mug (muzzle + hug) you for these. And they make great gifts.

Recipe:

3 cups bran

1 cup sweet feed

1 cup quaker oats

1 cup flax seed

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup applesauce

1 bag of peppermint treats

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Chop your carrots. You can also shred them or buy pre-shredded carrots.

3. Spray your measuring cup with oil before you measure your molasses to help it flow out of the cup instead of sticking

4. Mix your wet ingredients in your stand mixer.

5. Mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.

7. Spoon your mixture into your ungreased mini muffin pans.

8. The mixture will not rise so you can fill each muffin bowl to even.

9. Push a peppermint into the center of each muffin and pull it back out leaving an indentation. Use one peppermint to do all of the muffins.

10. This is a messy step and you may be tempted to just leave the peppermints in, but if you do, the inside of the candy will melt completely and leak into the bottom of your treats making them even stickier and leave the center of your treat hollow.

11. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the peppermints into the indentations.

12. Bake for 15 more minutes. Then let cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before you turn them out of the tins onto a cooling rack to completely cool.

13. The peppermints will be melted enough to make them combine with the treats. If you try to add them after baking, they just fall out. Store in a sealed container. Makes about 4 dozen.

4th of July Trick: Instead of using classic peppermints go online and order some red, white and blue ones to decorate these yummy treats.

Happy Independence Day weekend from Pony Tail!