— 4th of July, Cooking, Desserts, Food, Recipes —

Have a Happy, Yummy, 4th of July!

July 4, 2009
Happy 4th of July everyone! Chris and I don’t have any special plans for today – just hanging out, making hamburgers, and eating some good food while hopefully watching some fireworks. If we were at my parents’ house we’d be surrounded by about 20 people and everyone would be engaged in different activities: jumping on the trampoline, swimming, grilling, taking long walks or a bike ride, chasing little kids, and setting off fireworks from the driveway. I’m sad, because I just realized this morning that we won’t be celebrating a 4th of July with either of our families for a long time. Obviously it’s just the two of us in Massachusetts this year, and by July 4th, 2010, we’ll be in New Zealand. Boo 🙁

Still, I’m planning to have a nice time today. I made my mom’s traditional cream cheese fruit dessert with shortbread crust yesterday, so you can bet that we’ll be enjoying some of that today. Here’s my pathetic attempt at making a flag design on top:

Okay, okay, so it’s kind of messy. It’s hard to control where the pie filling goes! I think that if I make this again, I’ll use strawberries and blueberries. Still, the overall taste is really good. If you’re interested, here’s the recipe. It’s simple and delicious!

Cream Cheese Fruit Dessert with Shortbread Crust
4 C flour
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1 1/2 C reduced-fat butter, softened
1 tub (12 oz) Cool Whip, defrosted
3 8-oz packages Neufchatel cheese, softened
3/4 C confectioner’s sugar
2 cans of your favorite regular pie filling
Mix flour and brown sugar in large bowl; cut in butter. Pour half of crust mixture into 9×13 inch pan and pat down. Bake at 350 degrees till just barely golden, about 25 minutes. When crust comes out of the oven, stir with a fork till it crumbles easily (Note – this will make about double the crust that you need, so you can just freeze the rest in a Ziploc bag).
Beat cream cheese and Cool Whip till smooth, slowly adding sugar. Spoon on to top of cooled crust and spread evenly. Top with cans of your favorite pie filling. Store in refrigerator.
Alright everyone, have a great day!

** PS: I want to add a special Happy 4th of July to my big little brother, E, over in Iraq! We love you and miss you! Try not too breathe in too much dust 🙂 **

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11 thoughts on “Have a Happy, Yummy, 4th of July!”

  2. Your dessert is so pretty and I bet it tasted great! I love anything made with pie filling!

  8. Ohh that looks soo good! I'm going to make it for my mom's birthday… do you think I could use fat free or lite cool whip? Enjoy the day!

  9. That dessert looks yummy!
    I do vouch though that doing it with strawberries and blueberries is easier tho. They're easier to place. (my last post has a picture of that cake)

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