Perfect Cookout Dessert

Hi there!  Hope you are enjoying this Fourth of July surrounded by those you love!  I'm sharing a quick and simple recipe for my favorite party dessert-hamburger cookies!  I've made these for years after watching my mom and aunt, and they are a crowd pleaser every time.  I promise everyone will love them and not only are they simple, but you can modify them to your liking and these are a kid-friendly project.  Perfect for all those Fourth of July cookouts!

I love these because you can modify and make them your own.  I've listed below exactly what I use and I like to gather everything together before I start.

1 box Vanilla Wafers

1 jar of Frosting ( I ALWAYS choose cream cheese-my fav!)

1 bag of Peppermint patties

1 bag of Shredded Coconut

Food coloring (I usually only need green & yellow)

Honey

Sesame Seeds 

Plastic half-gallon zip top bag (optional)

I make a different amount of these each time and it really comes down to how many you want/need.  For today, I only made 30.

 To start, I poured about 1 cup of coconut in to the zip-top bag with a couple drops of green food coloring.  Seal the bag and shake things up!  This is meant to look like lettuce, so the green shade is up to you.  For now, just set this off to the side.  Using the plastic bag just makes things quick and less messy!

I also like to go ahead and unwrap all of the peppermint patties (burger patties :).  This help the assembly go that much faster.

Now this step is where you can be creative.  My mom never used to color the frosting when she made them, but I think coloring some of it yellow looks like cheese or mustard on the burger and it's such a cute touch!  You could also color some frosting red, but it's a little tougher to get it to come out red- usually more pink.  You can color the frosting in the original container, but you won't need all of it, and you can keep the frosting for other treats.  

Time to assemble!  I place a little frosting on one wafer cookie and top it with a peppermint patty.  I top that same patty with a little additional frosting.  

I spread frosting on the flat side of another wafer cookie and dip it in the bag of coconut (much less messy than trying to sprinkle it on.  I then place the coconut top cookie on to the patty and wa-la!!

Now you can absolutely stop at that step, but to truly make these look like burgers, I think the sesame seeds are a must.  

I like to heat the honey for about in the microwave to liquify it a bit and have it spread more easily on the "buns".   I microwaved about 2 tablespoons for 15 seconds in a microwave safe dish.  A silicone brush made this next step pretty simple.  I spread a tiny bit of honey on top of the bun and sprinkle on some sesame seeds.  Pro tip: you can toast the sesame seeds beforehand, but you definitely don't need to.  

If you make these, be sure to let me know!  I'd love to see them, so tag me on Instagram-@ashleyrachellestyle.