Star Spangled Pancakes & Patriotic cookies

A good and filling breakfast this morning was a must, as we were headed off to the city 4th of July parade. I wasn't sure how close we'd be able to park and I knew there wouldn't be food available, just whatever I packed and hauled along with us. I wasn't in the mood to carry too much so it was my goal to fill those guys up.

I found some left over red melting chocolate still hanging out in my cupboards from a firetruck cake I made a while back. I cut it up into chip sized pieces, whipped up some pancake batter, and cooked them into star shapes.

I love these pancake shapes. The key to using them smoothly is spraying them with non stick spray directly onto each nook, and reapplying after each batch.

They were a huge hit. I usually have leftovers from a batch of pancakes that get frozen for quick meals through out the week... but there were no left overs today!

We spent several hours at the parade. The decorated scooters from yesterday were a huge hit, the kids got compliments from several strangers. The weather was perfect and the entertainment was top notch.

Even though the kids got more candy than they needed while watching the parade our sweet tooth's were awakened and we all wanted more sugar. Cookies were the answer! The kids did the mixing while I added the ingredients.

Here's my recipe for
Buttery Patriotic Spritz Cookies:
Mix
     1 c softened butter
     1/2 c sugar
Stir in
     2 1/4 c flour
     1 tsp vanilla
     1/2 tsp salt
     1 large egg
I usually start the mixing with a spoon. When the dough starts to get too stiff I mix it with my hands just like a loaf of bread. Divide it in half and add blue food coloring to one of the halves.

Roll it into two logs and place it side by side inside the spritz press.

**I've tried many presses over the years. The Wilton brand broke during it's first use. I exchanged it and the same piece broke during it's first use again, so I returned it. I've tried the Pampered Chef press. In general I'm a huge fan of this brand, but not when it comes to this product, I do not like it. In my opinion the only presses worth buying are the all metal ones. They're harder to find but well worth the hunt!

The kids got to do the honors of pressing the cookies onto the cookie sheets. Then we put a piece of that same red candy from the morning in the center of each cookie.

Bake at 400 for 6-9min. You want them to be set but not browned. Immediately remove from sheets and cool. You can see the cookie in the middle of the picture below is just a blob. There's always a little dough left over that can't be pressed and that's what I do with it. You could make the whole batch this way if you don't have a press, they still taste great, just show a little different. Yummy!

We chilled at home for a while, then headed out again to see the fireworks. After getting home at 11pm it's been quite an excitement filled day! Happy Independence Day to all and to all a good night!