Sunday, July 4, 2010

Channeling My Inner Martha

[A conversation from earlier this week re: what dessert to bring to a friend's backyard bbq.]

Me:  So, she said we could bring a dessert, but I haven't decided yet what to make.
Joe:  Cooks?
(An aside: "Cooks" = "cookies." Apparently we make and eat so many that they have their own nickname in our house. We cannot even be bothered with 2 syllable words anymore.)
Me:  No, that's boring.  I was thinking something 4th of July-ish, but not the obvious...
Joe (cutting me off):  You mean apple pie? 
Me:  No.  I was going to say Cool Whip flag dessert.
Joe:  Because that is the obvious? 

Back me up here, people.  When you think 4th of July, don't you think Cool Whip flag dessert?  I mean, not that you've ever made one or even eaten one necessarily, but it has infiltrated my brain after decades worth of commercials.  (Apologies to my small contingent of Aussie readers who probably have no idea what I'm talking about.) 


No, I didn't make this.  Photo credit: MarthaStewart.com

Here's what I settled on:
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Do not adjust your monitor. These were supposed to be Red Velvet Cupcakes, but those ended up in the garbage and were a total disaster. So I went with regular old vanilla but had my mind set on using the red food coloring. The batter looked pink so I kept adding more and more. Turns out it darkens in the oven, hence our neon red cupcakes. What says "America" better than red dye in your food?

Did you also dress your children to be indistinguishable from flags, or do you like, hate America or something???
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Happy 4th, everybody!

6 comments:

Me? A Mom? said...

impressive. And, yes, 4th of july dessert = cool whip berry flag cake.

Ann Price said...

I'm so with you on this one. I LOVE that stupid flag dessert. Just saw it again on another blog and was jealous I didn't get to eat one. Maybe next year? Oh, and your cupcakes look divine.

Beth said...

Ha! Have you ever made one of those flag cakes? Yours will never, I repeat NEVER look as perfect as that photo you posted. But they still taste damn good. And make one happy. And kudos to you on the outfits. Hello - see St Patrick's Day post where you beat yourself up about not appopriately dressing children for color coded holidays. Evidently you anticipated this one.

Kate said...

Beth - was that a personal challenge? I mean, did you not notice the fact that this year's dessert involved tape and glue?! : )
As for outfits, the kudos go to Nana. Well, except kudos to me for putting them in the outfits on the right day. ha!

Susan said...

I'm gonna have to side w/ Joe on this one! My first thought was definitely apple pie...or at least some sort of pie. But, I do totally get where you're coming from as well and LOVE your decision to go with the cupcakes - they are way cute. And so are your flag-dressed children.

When I was a kid in CoMo, I made these flag cookies every year...you basically layer red colored cookie dough with regular colored cookie dough in a way so that when you slice the dough into cookies, it creates the red & white striped flag...it's actually quite cool. I may need to pull that back out some year soon.

jessica said...

I am so impressed!