Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th!  It is important to feel very American today, so we began the day with the most patriotic walk in Jersey City--Liberty State Park.  Which has a  view of, you guessed it, the Statue of Liberty. 

We wanted to look festive so Norbert, Bob, and Dr. Zira wore their flag  bandannas from Melody Lane Designs and Tubby and Ping wore their 4th of July outfits from the now-defunct Mia Pia's closet.

Of course you have to have a nice icey treat on the fourth so when we came home everyone had some pupsickles mom made.  Here is the recipe:


Blueberry, Carrot, and Banana Pupsickles

•  1 banana
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup plain fat free yogurt 
• 1/2 cup carrot juice 

 Blend everything together in the blender and pour into Popsicle molds or ice cube molds.

  Freeze overnight.  Enjoy!

Since mom and dad wanted frozen treats of their own for the holiday mom made ice cream sandwiches with strawberry ice cream and  a recipe for Chocolate Cookies based on one from the Epicurious website.   (She highly recommends using Scharffenberger chocolate.)    Yum!

Tripple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches 


Ingredients:
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped finely
1/2 cup flour 
3 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 tbsp instant espresso powder (optional)
1/4 tsp baking powder 
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.


Melt the 10 ounces of chocolate in the microwave.  Do this  50% power and make sure to check the chocolate very thirty seconds and stir it.    You need to watch very carefully to prevent burning.  Cool the melted chocolate 10 minutes.


Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed until its crumbly.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is creamy, about five minutes.  Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and beat until blended.  Stir in the dry ingredients being careful not to beat, they should just  be combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.


Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of dough roughly a 1/4 cup in size onto the baking sheets.  Space the balls of dough about 2 inches apart and flatten them slightly.   Bake 16 minutes and rotate halfway through.  Remove cookies from the oven and cool completely.  Its a good idea to make these a day in advance and freeze them in a Ziploc baggie but its not absolutely essential.   Serve with vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry ice cream.




We hope everyone had a wonderful fourth.