Happy Belated 4th of July Part I

I've always enjoyed the 4th of July. Growing up, we were usually in Maryland for the 4th and would spend the day swimming and having a big family cookout, topped off by chasing each other around with sparkles. As Sister and I got older, we discovered the wonder that is fireworks. Sister's high school dance team always made the dancers and their families (thankfully, I was always spared from that nightmare due in part to my own summer job, and in part to my inability to deal with people in a friendly manner in the heat) work at the local fireworkstand as part of their fundraising activities. As a result, Sister got the inside scoop on the best fireworks of the season, allowing us to light up our cul-de-sac in celebration of America's freedom (and Sister's freedom from the stand).

Since moving to the District, my celebrations have consisted more of watching the fireworks from a rooftop rather than setting off my own, but the food has remained my favorite part. This year, since the 4th feel at the worst possible time (despite working from home on Thursday, returning to work at all after a holiday was nothing short of torturous) I got to have two celebrations (which was thrilling to me since we know how much I love to stretch out a holiday) and, more importantly, afforded me mulitple opportuntities to share my with cooking with the masses!

First up, a cookout and fireworks with friends on the "real" 4th. My usually dominant sweet tooth had hit a lull as of late, but to my joy, it returned just in time to inspire me to make a fun dessert creation for the cookout. My original inspiration was found here, but as I found myself lacking both m&ms and chocolate chips, I decided to put my own spin on the recipe, even topping it with a little buttercream for an extra sweet kick!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I chopped up some mini hershey's bars since I was out of chocolate chips)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325 F and grease baking pan (I used an 8inch round cake pan)
2. Cream butter and sugar, then add in egg and vanilla extract and blend
3. Combine flour and baking soda in seperate bowl, then mix with butter/sugar mixture until completely incorporated
4. Fold in chocolate and spread into cake pan
5. Bake for 18-25 minutes (depending on oven temperature...my oven cooks faster than most recommended baking times)
6. Cool completely (I cooled mine overnight)
7. Once cooled, icing (once again, turning to my favorite buttercream recipe) and cut into bite size pieces (I also added some festive sprinkles for the occassion)