For this year’s Independence Day picnic, celebrate your patriotism by bringing treats that will color coordinate with the decor. We took a walk down memory lane to revisit some of the reader-submitted goodies from past issues of Cary Magazine.

We’ve got red, white and blue selections with decadent raspberry ice cream, a delightful blueberry tart, and a standby vanilla pound cake that’s perfect nestled beneath a topping of fresh seasonal berries.

Raspberry Fudge Ice Cream
By Susan Mazzara, of Cary

2 tablespoons framboise
1/2 pint of fresh raspberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup The Silver Palate Raspberry Fudge Sauce

Pour framboise over raspberries and mash with a fork. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar and let sit in refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir remaining sugar into milk until dissolved. Add cream and vanilla extract and stir until well blended. Stir in raspberry mixture. Pour into frozen bowl of ice cream maker and churn for 30 minutes. During last 5 minutes of churning, heat fudge sauce in microwave for about 30 seconds, just until pourable. When ice cream is ready, layer 1/3 of ice cream in a 1 1/2-quart air-tight container. Drizzle ice cream with half of the fudge sauce. Repeat ice cream and fudge sauce layers, and then cover second layer of fudge sauce with remaining third of ice cream. Cover ice cream with a layer of plastic wrap and seal. Place in freezer for 2 hours to harden.

Blueberry Tart
By Joan Papa, of Cary

Crust:
1 stick butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
Melt butter. Add sugar, the egg and flour. Press into 13-inch tart pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
Blend well and spread on cooled crust.

Filling:
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup blueberries
1 cup water
Cook together in pan until boiling and thick. Cool and spread over cream cheese.

Streusel Topping:
3 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
Blend until crumbly and sprinkle over blueberries.

Vanilla Pound Cake
By Pat Guess, of Raleigh
Serves 10 to 12

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
½ cup shortening
3 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup tube or Bundt pan. Set aside.

Cream together butter, shortening and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat for 10 minutes.

Sift together flour and baking powder; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Add vanilla and lemon extracts, beating just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, about 1 hour and 20 to 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack. When cake is completely cool, spoon on vanilla glaze, if desired.

Vanilla Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons milk

Stir together sugar, vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk. Add additional milk, up to 1 tablespoon, for desired consistency.