Four Finger Foods To Make This Fourth Of July

By Grayson Keglovic

The Fourth of July is among us, and what’s more patriotic than making your own red, white, and blue-inspired snacks? Here are four finger foods to make this holiday that are guaranteed to make you feel like you’re American’ dreamin’.

Firecracker Dogs

Ingredients:

1 – can of refrigerated Crescent Rolls (Eight Crescent Rolls)

1 – package of hot dogs (Ten hot dogs)

8 – thick slices of Colby Jack cheese

8 – foot-long skewers

**Ingredient list makes eight Firecracker Dogs

Directions:

■ Unpackage eight of your ten hotdogs, laying them on a flat surface.

■ Place one skewer in each hot dog, leaving about two inches of the skewer exposed at the top of the dog and roughly five inches exposed at the bottom.

■ Wrap the dough of one Crescent Roll around the entirety of the hot dog on the skewer.

■ Place your eight Crecent Roll-covered hot dog skewers on a non-slip mat or parchment paper and bake according to the directions on your Crecent Roll can.

■ While your Firecracker Dogs are in the oven, unpackage eight slices of Colby Jack cheese.

■ Use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut each slice of cheese into a star shape.

■ Once your hot dogs have finished baking, let them cool for five minutes.

■ Place your Colby Jack cheese stars on the two inches of exposed skewer at the top of the Firecracker Dog.

Edible Eagles

Ingredients:

¼ cup white chocolate chips

6 large marshmallows

Finely shredded coconut

6 Oreo Fudge Cream Cookies

6 whole cashews

Black food gel

**Ingredients list makes six Edible Eagles

Directions:

■ Melt your white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl according to the package directions.

■ Submerge one large marshmallow into the melted white chocolate chips. Use a spoon or spatula to get a thick, even coat that covers the entire marshmallow.

■ While your white chocolate-covered marshmallow is still wet, cover it in the shredded coconut flakes, exposing one end of it.

■ Quickly set the coconut shredding-free end of the marshmallow on top of the Oreo Fudge Cream cookie.

■ Wait about two minutes for the chocolate to harden, then use a toothpick to make a small hole on one side of the marshmallow.

■ Insert one whole cashew into the freshly made hole.

■ Using the same toothpick, make two eyes with your black food gel.

Uncle Sam’s Nutter Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

6 Nutter Butter Cookies

White candy melts

Powdered Sugar

White Fondant or modeling chocolate

Red, blue, and orange food coloring

Mini candy eyes

Water

Directions:

■ Melt your white candy melts in a microwave-safe bowl according to the package directions. Once melted, mix in one drop of orange food coloring.

■ Submerge your Nutter Butter cookie in the melted white candy melts. Use a spoon or spatula to get a thick, even coat that covers the entire cookie.

■ Freeze the freshly coated Nutter Butter cookies for five minutes.

■ Cut your white fondant or modeling chocolate into thirds and dye two sectors using the red and blue food dye until achieving the desired shades of red and blue.

■ Dust your surface with a light layer of powdered sugar, then roll out each fondant or modeling chocolate sector until 1/16th of an inch thick.

■ Cut twenty-four thin white stripes, six-to-eighteen miniature white stars, six thick red stripes, and six thin blue stripes using a knife.

■ Using the remaining white fondant or modeling chocolate, create three-to-five small balls to use as a nose and facial hair.

■ Gather all chocolate-covered Nutter Butter cookies, fondant or modeling chocolate pieces, and candy eyes to assemble Uncle Sam. (See image for reference)

■ To attach fondant or modeling chocolate to the Nutter Butter Cookies, use your fingertips to wet the connecting ends and press them together gently.

Star Spangled Sandwiches

Ingredients:

Sandwich Bread (chef’s choice)

Tomato

Lettuce Cheese (chef’s choice)

Deli Meat (chef’s choice)

Toothpicks

Star-shaped cookie cutter

Directions:

■ Lay out individual pieces of sandwich bread. Cut pairs of stars out of the slices using your star-shaped cookie cutter.

■ Lay out individual pieces of cheese. Using your starshaped cookie cutter, cut stars out of the slices. Each pair of star-shaped bread should have one slice of star-shaped cheese.

■ Lay out individual pieces of deli meat. Using your star-shaped cookie cutter, cut stars out of the deli meat. There should be one slice of star-shaped deli meat for each pair of star-shaped bread.

■ Chop tomatoes and lettuce into pieces that nicely sit between the pairs of star-shaped bread.

■ Assemble the sandwich. (Use photo for reference)

■ Insert a toothpick in the center of each sandwich to secure each layer together.