Easy 4th of July Dessert

I know I’m a little late on the 4th of July recipes bandwagon, but I promise this Fourth of July dessert recipe is so super fast and easy you don’t need much advanced preparation at all. In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say this is probably one of the easiest of any of the Fourth of July recipes you will find online. A grand claim, I know. But once you read through the recipe you’ll probably agree.

This patriotic red, white, and blue dessert requires the following ingredients:

• one 10 ounce bag of chocolate chips
• one 3 ounce package of cream cheese
• sliced strawberries (or other red fruit of your choosing)
• blueberries
• sliced bananas
• 25 graham cracker quarters (about 1/2 a box of graham crackers)

Start by melting your chocolate chips over a double boiler. You can use any kind of chocolate chips. I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate baking chips, which I really think balanced well with the cream cheese and fresh fruit. Once the chocolate is melted, mix in the cream cheese until thoroughly combined. Place the chocolate/cream cheese mixture in the refrigerator to chill while you do the next step.

Now break apart your graham crackers and lay them out on the cookie sheet. I used a smaller cookie sheet and fit about 25 graham cracker quarters on there, but you may be able to fit more onto the sheet that you choose to use. Slice up your fruit into small bite-sized pieces.

Scoop your chocolate/cream cheese mixture into a pastry bag (or if you’re cheap thrifty like me, just use a ziploc bag with one corner cut off). Pipe a thick line of the mixture onto each graham cracker and top with assorted fruit.

That’s it! You’re done! So simple, right? It’s great if you’re in a hurry and need a July 4th dessert to bring to a picnic or a barbecue. Just prepared to see them go fast. Kids especially like them. My nephew ate five of them in one sitting and said they were the best “cookies” he’d ever had.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!