Pie? Cake? Fruit Salad? What are your favorite Fourth of July dessert recipes? At many houses the family fare is handed down over generations and brought out on occasions like the 4th as a way of remembering special moments and people. In other homes, people play in the kitchen and contrive something wholly new - suited to the spirit of "independence" day. Here, you'll find a few of my favorite July 4th desserts. But remember, whatever your family loves best makes a great dessert idea for the 4th of July. You can be flexible!

You'll also find lots more Fourth of July dessert recipes (including fun 4th of July cakes and cupcakes) at Fourth of July Party Ideas and Recipes.

Think the only "traditional" American pie is apple? Thing again... because this Fourth of July dessert recipe isn't apple. But it is red, white, and blue!

This wonderful July 4th dessert is a fresh and flavorful no-bake berry pie recipe that ties into the red-white-blue color theme for the holiday. As a bonus? In terms of fourth of July dessert recipes, you can't get much simpler than this one. It's unbelievably good... and perfectly fresh for summer!

Makes 1 pie.

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Ingredients:
2 lb. strawberries, cleaned & sliced, divided
1 pt. blackberries or blueberries
1 C. granulated sugar
1 deep dish pie crust, baked
Sweetened whipped cream, as needed

Instructions: 1. Take 1/2 of the strawberries and put them in the blender with the sugar. Blend until smooth.

2. Move these to a saucepan and simmer until you achieve a nice glaze consistency and the strawberry puree is soft. Let cool to warm or room temperature.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the strawberries with the blackberries, and fold in the glaze (after it cools).

4. Pour into your prepared, pre-baked pie crust. Refrigerate until cold.

5. Before serving, top the outer edge of the pie with the whipped cream so you can still see the red/blue interior (or if you wish pipe out lines of whipped cream so you get a flag-like appearance.)

Tip: To make this Fourth of July dessert recipe look even more festive for the 4th, save some of your fruit to arrange on top for a festive look!

This is a really fun Fourth of July dessert recipe! Why? Because your guests get to be creative, and build their very own desserts. You just set out all the fixins, and watch creativity (and maybe a little hilarity!) ensue. Be sure to have a camera ready! You can even turn this fun July 4th dessert into a Fourth of July party game-- make it a contest to see who can decorate the best patriotic cupcake!

Cupcakes are also very portable-- it's easy to walk around eating them! So they can be a good choice if you want to help with overall mixing and mingling at your Independence Day party.

The recipe here makes about a dozen large vanilla cupcakes. But you can use any recipe you like, or a few different ones for your guests to choose from. You can even use a mix if you like... the sky's the limit!

You'll find ideas for fixins below.

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Cupcake Ingredients:
2 c. sifted flour
1-1/2 c. white sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. shortening
1 c. milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon zest (opt.)
4 egg whites

Choice of Cupcake Fixins (see Below)

Instructions: 1. Set your oven at 350 degrees. Put red, white and blue cupcake liners in your cupcake pans, if you've got 'em. Otherwise, use the regular kind.

2. Mix together all the ingredients except for the eggs. It will take about 2 minutes to get everything incorporated.

3. Now add the egg whites, beating on high for another 2 minutes. Pour the batter into the cupcake liners until they're 2/3 full.

4. Bake for about 25 minutes (a toothpick will come out clean when they're done). Cool.

Arranging Your Build a Cupcake Bar

Now the fun part of this Fourth of July dessert recipe begins! Put these (or a variety of different cupcakes) out on a sideboard at your party along with little dishes filled with various frostings and cake toppers. Let people make their own creations!

Some great ideas for cupcake toppings are:

• Variety of Homemade or Purchased Frostings
• Chocolate and Rainbow Sprinkles
• Shredded Coconut (toasted or plain)
• Chopped Nuts
• Mini Oreos or Oreo Crumbs
• Marshmallows
• Crushed Candybars (Reese's cups, Snickers, Heath, etc.)
• M&M's or Mini M&M's (red, white, and blue ones!)
• Crushed Pretzels
• Bacon Pieces
• Peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips
• Sliced fresh fruit
• Red and Blue candy

This is one of those Fourth of July dessert recipes that's actually healthy on many levels. Both chocolate and strawberries are packed with antioxidants. Antioxidants fight bad cholesterol, reduce a person's risk for cancer, and offer anti-inflammatory properties too. Who would have thought that such a sweet treat could do you so much good?

These are also a lot of fun to make, and are one of those Fourth of July dessert recipes that guests always get excited about. It always feels so extravagant to have chocolate covered strawberries!

Be sure to keep them in the shade if having an outdoor BBQ or picnic for your 4th of July... because the chocolate will melt!

Variation: Prefer regular chocolate to white? Use this same recipe with a milk or dark chocolate, and drizzle with colored white chocolate or roll in red, white, and blue sprinkles. Just as cute!

Makes about 30 strawberries.

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Ingredients:
1- 12 oz. bag white chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
1 qt. large whole strawberries
blue food coloring, as needed (gel coloring works best)
Coconut or finely chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions: 1. Lay out some waxed paper where the berries can cool after dipping.

2. Divide the chocolate and butter into half and put in two microwavable containers. Melt one container using 50% power setting on the microwave. Stop after one minute to stir. Repeat until melted. (you can also do this on the stove with a double boiler)

3. Take each strawberry dipping them into the white chocolate about 1/2 - 2/3 the way up to the stem. Lay on the paper until they harden then put them in the refrigerator til set.

4. To the second container of white chocolate, add as much blue food coloring as required to turn the mixture blue-- this'll be the blue in your red, white, and blue (the strawberry is red, and your other chocolate is already white!).

5. Dip each strawberry part way, allowing both red and white to show.

6. Lay on the paper until they harden then put them in the refrigerator til set. Or, if you want to add coconut or nuts, dip the berries into those toppings right after you've coated them with the chocolate.

Hint: if your chocolate gets too cool it will become very hard to dip the berries and get a nice, even result. You can rewarm it at any point in the process to get the consistency you want.

Make it Easier: Want to get a similar look without double-dipping in chocolate? Dye shredded coconut blue and dip the tip of the white-chocolate coated strawberry in that, instead. Or use blue-tinted sugar or sprinkles!

Your guests will love snacking on this simplest of Fourth of July dessert recipes!