10 Desserts for the Fourth of July

1. Red Wine Ice Cream


Whenever I'm invited to a barbecue, everyone requests that I bring my red wine ice cream. We're half way through June and I've already had multiple requests.

2. Whiskey Chocolate Cookies


My husband made these for my birthday (July 5th!) last year and we've been made them many times since.

3. Smores Pie


Another one of my husband's desserts. He's made it for my birthday, his mom's birthday, just because . . . besides nothing says summer likes smores. (And there are a lot more smores desserts to come!)

4. Drunk Cherry Chocolate Cake


Black cherries. Whiskey (brandy is good too!). And chocolate. These is no way this cake couldn't be amazing.

5. Smores Cups


These little things are super easy to make and addictive.

6. Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies



I'm not much of a drinker, neither is Eric, but we sure love our boozy desserts. The Baileys adds some extra yumminess to these cookies.

7. Smores Sandwich Cookies



Out of all smores cookies, these guys are my husband's favorite!

8. White Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Pie



This cream pie is light and airy and perfect for a Fourth of July barbecue.

9. Butterscotch Cookies



I recently made these again to bring to a get-together and they were a huge success. Not a single one was left on the plate.

10. Smores Cookies



I told you there were a lot of smores desserts on this list. Nothing says summer like smores!

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Summer Recipes Ideas:
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake
Bacon Barbecue Green Bean Casserole
Margarita Chicken and Steak Fajitas
Baked Parmesan Tomatoes
Roasted Garlic White Bean Hummus
Soy Waxy Beans with Sesame Seeds

Whiskey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every year for my birthday, my husband bakes me a dessert. One year it was a drunken cherry chocolate cake, another a smores pie. This year he made the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever. I'm not a big drinker, but damn do I like booze in my desserts. I don't know if I'll be able normal chocolate chips cookies after these whiskey chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 tablespoons whiskey (we used honey whiskey)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we like to use a mix of dark, semi, and milk)

Directions:
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown and has a nutty aroma. Allow to cool for ten minutes (so you don't accidentally cook the egg).

Pour butter into a large bowl. Add brown sugar and white sugar. Beat until smooth and combined.

Add egg, vanilla, and whiskey. Combine.

Add baking soda, cornstarch, salt, and flour. Beat until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Line two baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil sprayed with cooking spray. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of cookie dough and space them two-inches apart on the baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 11-14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

More Boozy Desserts:
Drunken Cherry Chocolate Cake
Spiced Rum Brown Butter Cookies
Red Wine Ice Cream
Easy Rum Balls
Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Spiked Apple Cider Bon-Bons
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Filling and Spiked Buttercream

Drunken Cherry Chocolate Cake

Every year for my birthday, I don't ask for presents, just that Eric bake a cake for me and we spend the day together. He started with boxed cake mixes, last year it was a smores pie, and this year he made his first cake from scratch. He woke up early and only asked for a little help--I more supervised and fetched ingredients for him than anything else. And it turned out absolutely delicious. The cake was moist and very chocolaty and the cream cheese frosting has become my favorite frosting. You can't forget the drunken cherries either--divine. I am so proud of him.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
Cake
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk, warmed
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder (we used Hershey's Special Dark)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt

Filling

4 cups black cherries, pitted (about 1 pound)

1/2 cup whiskey (next time I think we'll use brandy)

1/4 cup cold water

Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

4 tablespoons of reserved cherry-whiskey syrup

Directions:
Drunken Cherries
Rinse, drain, and dry your cherries. Pit the cherries and coarsely chop them. Place them in a medium bowl and add whiskey. Let the cherries marinate at room temperature for 1 hour then drain cherries, reserving the liquid.

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans.

With a standing mixer or electric hand mixer, whisk together 4 tablespoons butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Whip on high for 7 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy. Whisk in warm milk.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the batter is just combined. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of each cake has set. 

Once the cakes are cool enough to handle, remove from pans. Place the cakes on a wire rack and cool completely.

Frosting
In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk butter on low until fluffy, gradually adding powdered sugar one cup at a time until well combined. Add salt. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until mixture is pale and fluffy (2-3 minutes).

Add cream cheese 1 ounce at a time and mix until well combined. Once all the cream cheese is incorporated, whip for about 1-2 more minutes.

Stir in 4 tablespoons of reserved cherry liquid. Reserve the rest of the remaining cherry liquid. Refrigerate frosting until ready to use.

Assemble

Remove the frosting from the fridge and allow it to set about for 10-15 minutes. 

Cut each cake in half horizontally using a serrated knife. Place one layer (cut-side up) on your plate or cake stand. 

Add water to the reserved cherry syrup. Brush the layer with 1/3 of the cherry-whiskey mixture. Frost the layer and add 1/3 of the drunken cherries. Repeat with the next three layers, however, do not put any syrup on the top layer. Refrigerate cake for about 20 minutes.

Frost the outside of your cake. Decorate with extra cherries, chocolate curls, or chocolate chips. Instead of using whole cherries, Eric decorated with a few drunken cherries. Cover and store cake in fridge. Allow cake to sit at room temperate for about 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Cake Recipes
Strawberry and Chocolate Checkered Cake 
Three Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
An Apple Cider Birthday Cake
Chocolate on Chocolate Cake 
Chocolate Swirl Cake (Made with Swiss Cake Rolls)
Honey Cake
Rice Crispy Birthday Cake 

Honey Cake

Honey cakes are an acient dessert that can be traced back to Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It seems every culture has it's own verison: Arabs, Russians, Germans, even Brazilians. The Jews eat honey cakes for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The Celts left the cakes as an offering to the Faery for Beltane. I've had only one honey cake in my life and it was very disappointing. Dry and not very sweet. But if I had known honey cakes could taste like this, I would have started making them years ago. The outside of the cake is both crisp and chewy while the inside is oh so moist.

Eric came home from work and asked me what I was baking because it smelled divine. Then he kept asking if it was done yet. After he tried a piece, he must have told me how amazing the cake was at least three times.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup honey whiskey
3/4 cup warm water

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350.

Generously grease two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray. (I actually halved the recipe--yes, I put one and a half eggs in it--and used one 9-inch cake pan).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and all spice. Next, make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange juice, whiskey, and water.

With your electric mixer on low, blend the ingredients together until well combined. Pour the batter into your pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Garnish the cake with powdered sugar, if so desired. Eric desired, so to make it Christmasy, I made a paper snowflake (flashback to my childhood) and used it for a stencil when dusting the cake with sugar.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Cake Recipes:

An Apple Cider Birthday Cake
Chocolate on Chocolate Cake 
Chocolate Swirl Cake (Made with Swiss Cake Rolls)
Rice Crispy Birthday Cake 
Starlight Mint Cake
Three Layer Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frostin