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:@)