Fourth of July Desserts

For the 4th of July, we celebrated with Christopher's extended family on the 4th and then with my family on the 5th at our house. For Christopher's family's party, we brought two desserts and an appetizer. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the app - Firecracker Chicken Roll ups. Basically it is similar to Buffalo Chicken dip only spread on a tortilla and chilled, then sliced for easy consumption. Mmm making me hungry as we speak. 

For the desserts I made mini cherry and blueberry pies and Firecracker cookies - no worries - no remnant of the buffalo chicken - just shares the same name ;)

I will post the three recipes, but sadly I have no pictures of the chicken. Have no fear - I believe in this recipe as all 30 chicken roll ups were consumed with 30 minutes of us arriving there. It is a winner!

Firecracker Chicken Roll ups

Makes: About 30-36 rolls (depending on thickness sliced)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup hot wing sauce

1/4 cup ranch dressing (can sub blue cheese)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1 lb chicken breast (or 2-3 cans of chicken - quick and easy)

5 large flour tortillas

In a bowl, beat cream cheese on low and add in sauce, ranch, cheese and green onions. Beat until blended. Stir shredded chicken into mixture by hand. Spread approximately 3/4 cup of mixture on top of one of the tortillas. Roll up tortilla tightly, but without shifting the mixture too much. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Place rolled tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours. Remove and unwrap. Slice each rolled tortilla in half and then each half into 3 slices, discarding the ends. Place pinwheel slices on a serving plate. I stuck a toothpick into each of them for easy grabbing and eating. 

Firecracker Cookies

Makes: 4 dozen cookies

1 box of 4th of July Funfetti cake mix (sold seasonally)

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and baking powder. In a small bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir to combine. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes until golden. Wait about 1-2 minutes once they are out of the oven before moving to a cooling rack. 

Mini Pies

Makes: 5 dozen mini pies

1 box of refrigerated pie crust, thawed (should contain 2 crusts)

1 can of Cherry pie filing

1 can of blueberry pie filing

1 egg (for egg wash)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease at least two 12 cup mini muffin pans (I only own two - if you own more - grease them all up!) and set aside. Flour a smooth, clean surface. Unroll 1 of the pie crusts. Using a small glass or circle cookie cutter about 2" wide, cut out as many circles as possible and gentle push each circle into one of the mini muffin pan openings. Form remaining dough into a ball and re-roll out using a rolling pin. If dough is sticking to pin or surface, add some additional flour. Cut out as many circles as possible and push into the pan. Continue doing this until all of the dough from both pie crusts are used - should yield about 60 mini crusts. 

Next, create an egg wash by breaking the egg and adding just a little bit of water to the bowl with the egg. Using a pastry brush, brush each crust with the egg wash. Next, open up the cans of pie filing. Using a teaspoon (like actual teaspoon, not a measuring spoon) scoop out a little bit of the pie filing onto each crust. Once you have two pans set, bake in oven for about 25 minutes until the crust appears to be golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 2-3 minutes before removing from the pan to a cooling rack. Repeat until all crusts are cooked.

Note: I did wait a couple extra minutes after removing the pies from the tins so the tins could cool some more before making the next dozen. I also split my pies evenly between cheery and blueberry.