Sabroso S'mores With a Side of Independence
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All thoughts, opinions recipes and warm fuzzy feelings are purely my own. I came to the U.S. a month before my 5th birthday. And every summer after that, until I moved to Florida as a teenager, was partially spent in the Dominican Republic. I have distinct memories of celebrations, parties and all sorts of festivities.
When I came to the States, new traditions had to be created. I no longer had to leave grass for camels and cigars for Wise Men. Instead, Santa Claus found his way into our living room via the fire escape.
But there was this new celebration that I had no frame of reference for. It was 4th of July! As a child in New York City, it was the highlight of my summer. If we went to the beach then we'd grill out. Hamburgers and hot dogs which were all-American. And pernil brought from home. Because it's not a Dominican party unless you have pernil, right? And rice and peas.
Summers in Washington Heights had the perfect mix of cultura and USA pride. I recall the fireworks competition that we would have on our block. One side of the street against the other. I cannot make this up! It was amazing! My memories are peppered with American flags and Dominican Spanish. And it was a beautiful thing.
All these thoughts came back to me when I watched the video of the Gomez family. I heard my parents in their comments. What they want for their children. What we all want for our children, right?
This video got me thinking of Mami. She became a U.S. citizen at a 4th of July celebration at the American Pavilion at Epcot. And we got to add one more ribbon of pride to our family.
These days, I try hard to speak Spanish to the Frog Princess (though she is timid about speaking it back. Lawd! Help me!). But the Dominican foods are still there. Mixed in with all of the culture and traditions that we have made for ourselves in the U.S..
I told you guys about my very first time having a s'mores. Do you remember that?
The Frog Princess has already fallen in love with s'mores and so I decided to try and figure out a different twist to it. It is 1,000 degrees in Florida and so I decided that any recipe would HAVE to be something cool. Literally!
Enter the s'mores ice cream crumble cupcake (and/or cake).
[yumprint-recipe id='13']
Voila! I call this a crumble because if you eat it right after you head up the marshmallows, you end up with a crumbly bottom. But that's not all! This is like the s'mores that keeps on giving! As I put the marshmallows on top of the cupcakes, some of the ice cream melted a bit and when I put it back into the freezer, it seemed that a bit of the ice cream had gotten into the crumble and when I went to eat it later, it was like a s'mores ice cream sandwich! Win, win, my people!
It's all about traditions! Celebrating our country, celebrating one another and celebrating all of the different ways that families can say #ThisIsWholesome.
As part of the Independence Day celebrations, Honey Maid fans and followers are encouraged to share their love for all families on social media with the hashtags #MeltingPot and #ThisIsWholesome. What's your story? How do you weave traditions (old and new) into your celebrations?
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