Home / Food Bites & Articles / Janet's Notebook

Simple, Easy to Carry Labor Day Desserts

Texas Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m heading to a Labor Day barbecue this weekend. Everyone is bringing something and I’ve been assigned a dessert. I started to look through my Recipe Box app to see what sparked my sweet tooth and would transport easily to the barbecue. All of these recipes are easy and I may make more than one. The more desserts the better in my mind.

Cobblers are a summertime favorite. Judy Garcia’s (Gunnison, UT) Jumbleberry Cobbler is sweet, tart, and filled with summer fruit.

“This is a recipe I created by taking the filling from one recipe and the crust from another,” shares Judy.

Judy uses fresh rhubarb, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and a tart apple as the filling for the cobbler. The great thing about this recipe is that frozen fruit would work well too if that’s what you have on hand. Nice and buttery, the topping just melts into the fruit for a fantastic summertime dessert.

Nancy Thomas’ (Atlanta, TX) Strawberry Daiquiri Cake is fun. It has all the flavors of a strawberry daiquiri without the booze (so safe for kids to eat).

It starts with a boxed white cake mix. Vanilla instant pudding is added which helps keep the cake moist. The punch of strawberry flavor comes from strawberry puree and frozen strawberry daiquiri mix. A strawberry glaze adds a bit of sweetness to every bite. Mmmm.

“This was passed down to me from my ‘Nannie’ my dad’s mom,” explains Wanda Vance (Oakwood, VA) of her Mississippi Mud Cake recipe. “It is very rich but very good.”

A classic recipe that is a surefire hit. This cake is especially rich and sweet, but you can bet folks will still be going back for seconds and thirds… It’s THAT good! A dessert filled with chocolate, pecans, marshmallows… what’s not to love?

Cookies are always popular and Amy Alusa’s (St. George, UT) Texas Style Chocolate Chip Cookies might just be the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.

“I’ve never given them to anyone who doesn’t ask me for the recipe,” says Amy. ” I named them Texas Style because they are sooo BIG, and DELICIOUS like everthin’ in Texas!”

Serve these cookies and people will think you bought them at a local bakery. This cookie is a basic, delicious chocolate chip cookie. Buttery, tender, and melt in your mouth awesomeness. In the Test Kitchen, we used the Madagascar bourbon vanilla and added M&M’s – yum, oh yum! These would be good to make ice cream sandwiches too (just make them a little bigger than a traditional cookie).

Sundaes are great for a BBQ. Pick up a gallon of ice cream along with toppings and everyone can create their own. Bring Wendy Rusch’s (Cameron, WI) Thick-N-Rich Hot Fudge Sauce for everyone to spoon on top.

“This hot fudge is so simple to whip up and so yummy on so many things, like as a drizzle on my chocolate fudgy cupcakes or ice cream or sundaes or fruit or use in trifles, the list is endless,” thinks Wendy.

Condensed milk makes this rich and irresistible. It’s going to become a staple in your fridge.

This year, we’re going to end summer on a sweet note. What’s your favorite dessert recipe to bring to a cookout? Share a link to it below. Happy Pinching!