Happy Belated 4th of July to Everyone! I wish I would have been able to get this written before the 4th of July, but that didn’t happen. So here is a recipe you can use for Labor Day or next year’s 4th!

This was a Mason Jar Flag that my dear friend, Julie created. I will be copying this for sure! – Copyright P.S. I Love Peas

I recently did a guest blog for my friend, Bren, over at Creative Living on this American Flag Blueberry & Strawberry-Raspberry pie that I created for a party that we were attending. Please visit her blog to see all the details and recipe. PLEASE do not be intimidated! This pie is super easy to make and this is coming from someone who taught herself to bake pies.

American Berry Pie – Image Credit: Land O Lakes

Well, once I was done making this pie, I had a lot of left over pie crust and I HATE wasting food. I started thinking what I could make with it and shortbread cookies came to mind.

With the leftover crust, I added more butter (1/2 stick), sugar (1 cup) and almond extract (1 tsp) and then I tasted the batter to adjust. If you feel it needs more extract or salt, go ahead and add it. Then I was trying to figure out how to make it festive-looking. I had just bought 3 different size star cookie cutters; goodwill is a great place to find these for cheap. I divided the batter in two and with one mixed in blue food coloring to get it to the color I wanted. Using the biggest star, I cut out white stars and then the medium blue stars. I had some leftover blue dough so I made little star cookies to scatter on the serving plate.  Baked at 375 for about 8 to 10 minutes – just until undersides be brown.

Star-Spangled Shortbread Cookies – Copyright: P.S. I Love Peas

Once the cookies were cooled, I added the raspberry on top and put a little bit of premade icing in the cavity so that it would stick to the cookie. One variation would be to take the small star and cut a window into the medium star to add raspberry or strawberry jam to make a stain glass cookie, but I didn’t have this flavor jam available. Found this blue serving plate in my cupboard and you have another dessert to pass.

This was my son’s first 4th of July and I really wanted to celebrate to honor him. We are so blessed to have him as part of our family. Such a cutie! I absolutely love this hat – Red, White & Cute!

Hoping that everyone had a wonderful & safe 4th of July! Happy Birthday America – here is a bouquet of flowers for you!

Happy Birthday America! Mason Jar Centerpiece – Copyright: P.S. I Love Peas

Note: All images are copyrighted to P.S. I Love Peas. I’m fine with other bloggers using my images, but I ask that credit and a link be given back to my blog for photo use. If you are a company interested in using my images, please contact me directly at dsmith dot 2007 @ hotmail dot com. Thank you!