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Monday, May 12, 2014

Red, White and Blue Cream Cheese Filled Strawberries -a bloggy blooper

Do you remember that line in the movie Christmas Vacation where they're all standing on the front lawn looking at the lights that didn't turn on and the Mother says "I can picture it in my mind Clark and it's beautiful"... Well folks, let me say right upfront that this is not the idea I had in my mind... The Red, White and Blue Cream Cheese Filled Strawberries I envisioned had the bottoms dipped in royal blue candy melts (sold at Michaels), then the red berry, white luscious cream cheese filling topped with just the lightest sprinkling of festive nonpareils... Can you picture it too? Good! Because what I ended up with was a hot mess! 

I will say that even though things didn't go as planned, they were still very tasty and gobbled up:@)
I didn't buy the blue candy melts and tried to add food coloring to white ones, it immediately seized up. I ended up using what was left of the white melts and dipping them in the nonpareils. This made for a very, shall we say... crunchy... strawberry. Also, because the nonpariels were in a damp environment they immediately dyed everyone's fingers red and blue. Not the kind of "show your colors" I was aiming for!
 Overall I still think this is a great idea for the summer holidays, 
only I encourage you to try it with a bag of the royal blue candy melts.

Red, White and Blue Cream Cheese Filled Strawberries
  1. Wash berries and dry well. Remove the stem and leaves. Make two cuts from the point of the berry down far enough to open it up a bit but not all the way to the bottom. Stick your finger in the berry and gently nudge it open a bit.
  2. Melt candy melts in the microwave, stir well. Dip the bottom of the berries into the candy, make sure you leave some of the red showing. Set down on wax/parchment paper or a silicone mat and nudge it open again with your finger. Let dry completely. (I placed them in the fridge for a few minutes.)
  3. Filling: 8oz cream cheese, softened- 1/2 C powdered sugar- 1/4 tsp vanilla- mix well. (A half batch of the filling was good for about 12 good sized strawberries.)
  4. Put filling into a disposable icing bag and gently fill each berry.
  5. Sprinkle top with festive nonpareils.
  6. Store, covered, in the fridge until serving time.
Have a happy day:@)

20 comments:

  1. Your berries look beautiful and festive Lynn! I would have never known there were any fingers dyed or chocolate seized in the making of the berries :)

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  2. Absolutely beautiful!! Thanks for the advice too.

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  3. Love the idea! You should have added photos of the "colored" fingers eating them.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  4. Aww too bad about your chocolate seizing up, Lynn. You're so good at fixing the problem, we would've never guessed it was a mistake! I'm sure that no one minded the colored fingers...they were too busy licking them!! I'm curious though, did the chocolate seize with the gel colors? Hope you have a good Monday.

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    1. I used the Americolor gels and it seized very quickly. I did manage to get an orange color using Wilton Icing Gels for my Strawberry Carrots a couple years ago.

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  5. I would not have known the chocolate seized up or any fingers dyed if you hadn't mentioned it. I think they are lovely.
    Sam

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  6. i hate those nonpariels! they serve no purpose to me! :) crunchy little irritants...

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  7. These look perfect, and perfectly delicious, to me. xo

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  8. Gosh, they sure LOOK good, Lynn! You cracked me up with the "show your colors" comment. Hahahaha!

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  9. It doesn't look like a hot mess to me Lynn, and believe me, I am familiar with hot messes! I think your berries are beautiful! And a brilliant summer treat!! Once I tried to make drink koozies with magic marker on foam koozies~they looked cute until you put a can in them and they got wet, and then the marker came off on everyone's hands, and not only that it turned sticky! Yikes! I have great faith you will perfect these patriotic berries!
    Jenna

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  10. Love these! No one would ever know they didn't turn out the way you wanted- they're so cute! :)

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  11. HI Lynn, one of your hot messes is one of my successes! These are beautiful!

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  12. It may not be what you had in your head, and it may have turned out a bit crunchy, but they are really pretty and would be perfect for a patriotic picnic. I love the idea!

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  13. Oh, dear....I can see how this would be time consuming and...messy....BUT, I think they turned out very pretty.
    Our market bakery makes these....think I'll have better luck BUYING mine. :)
    hugs, bj

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  14. They look delightful! You can't go wrong with cream cheese, hot mess or not.

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  15. I'm glad I'm in good company with my recipe disasters...but they DO look yummy!!!

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  16. They look good, Lynn. Sorry you had colored fingers and were not satisfied but they look very nice and festive.

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  17. Hi Lynn

    Your red white and blue strawberry idea is fabulous! I'll look for blue chocolate melts to dip them in.

    We can't win them all--I've had more than my share of cooking disasters, but sometimes that causes me to be creative to cover it up. I tried making a gluten free bunny shaped cake for my grandsons at Easter and unfortunately it fell apart. I made it into a trifle by layering the cake pieces with with chocolate pudding and whipped cream and they absolutely loved it!

    I hope you also had a very Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for your well wishes!

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  18. This is a funny story, Lynn. :-D They still look yummy to me, and I'm sure I'd gobble them up in a heartbeat. :) Thanks for sharing this recipe; I remember seeing a similar one on Pinterest last year. I like the patriotic touch you've added to yours, my friend. Have a wonderful weekend!

    Hugs,

    Denise at Forest Manor

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