Star-Inspired Treats

Whether you're having a Labor Day picnic, buffet or brunch, celebrate the day off with some star-shaped treats. We've rounded up five different sweet and savory recipes that can all be made with various sizes of star cookie cutters. Love 'em all? Great! The five recipes are perfect complements to each other, and work together as a spread beautifully. Best of all: Everything's super easy to make. Click through to get the step-by-step recipes.

Filling but not too sweet, these are a great dessert for adults who want something a little less decadent (and kids who have been banned from sugar overload!). The simple flavors are pleasing for little ones, and they pair perfectly with a cup of coffee.

Puff pastry sheets

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

Zest and juice of half a lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cold heavy whipping cream

Blueberries and sliced strawberries

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place the raw puff pastry on wax paper. Cut out stars with your cookie cutters. Be careful as you're cutting; it helps to pick up the star and work the dough through the cutter so that the layers don't fall apart. After the star's been cut out, you might need to form the corners back into perfect points.

3. Bake until the stars' points are golden brown—about 10 to 12 minutes. Not only are the gold corners a good sign that they're done cooking, but they also give a nice, crisp look to the final product.

4. Cool the stars on a wire rack while you make the cream spread. It's best to assemble the pastries right before serving, but both the stars and the cream spread can be made in advance. If you're going to put the whole thing together later, just refrigerate each part until you're ready to assemble.

5. For the filling, stir the cream cheese and sugar together until creamy. Add in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.

6. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.

7. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream. If the puff pastry is cooled, you can use the filling immediately. Otherwise, refrigerate until the puff pastry is done (or you're ready to assemble the pastries).

8. When you're ready to assemble the pastries, split the top half of the stars from the bottom (the layers in the puff pastry make this easy).

9. Make your own icing bag: Spoon the cream into a plastic bag, close the top and snip off one of the corners. You'll just squeeze the bag to get the cream out.

10. Apply cream to the puff pastry stars using a circular motion to create a dollop.

11. Start decorating! Put your blueberries and sliced strawberries on top of the cream. Make a sandwich if you'd like by topping off the fruit and cream with the other half of the star.

Kids will love helping out with this dessert. It's fun to fill the pastries with cream and fruit, and you don't have to worry—the ingredients are so simple that the final product will look good no matter what the kids do.

Get the whole recipe on one page here

If you're worried about having something for your picky eaters, try these fruit pops. While they look exotic, the components are simple, familiar fruits. The fun shapes might even get your kids to eat more fruit than normal! Feel free to mix up the recipe and try different ingredients. Hey, as long as it's shaped like a star, anything goes!

Watermelon (small and seedless)

Blueberries

Pineapple

(You'll also need something to string the fruit on—we used fun striped straws)

1. Slice the watermelon and pineapple into inch-thick rounds. Slice the watermelon and the pineapple to roughly the same thickness.

2. Use your cookie cutters to cut out various sizes of stars—this is one project where every single sized star will come in handy.

3. When cutting the watermelon, be gentle with the cutter to keep the fruit intact. You might need to use some finesse to work the cookie cutter through the fruit.

4. Since pineapple can be a bit tough in the center, it's easiest to try and cut around it, not through. If you do need to cut through the center, you can always use a knife if the cookie cutter isn't strong enough. (The cutter will still make a good imprint on the pineapple so that you know where to cut.)

5. If you want to make a star with one type of fruit inside another (say, a watermelon star surrounded by a pineapple star), first cut out a pineapple star using the biggest star you have. Then, in the center of the big pineapple star, use a significantly smaller cookie cutter to cut a star out of the middle. Use the same cookie cutter (the smaller one) to cut out a watermelon star.

6. Then, slide the smaller watermelon star into the hole you made in the pineapple.

7. If you're using blueberries, put those on the straw first. Don't be too rough as you put them on—it helps to gently twist the blueberry as you push the straw through, as if you're putting in a screw.

8. Continue to slide fruit onto the straws, in whatever combination and order you'd like.

9. If you have younger kids, it works well to do all the cutting yourself, set out the stars and berries and just let thread the straw through the fruit.

When you're busy prepping for your party, this project is great for a child: Just set them up, and they'll be totally occupied (and productive). Put any fruit you don't use into bowls and use as a pretty side dish. Don't throw away the scraps—these are perfect for you and the kids to snack on before the guests arrive.

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These mini sandwiches combine classic caprese taste with a fun shape and a cute decorative toothpick. Kids are more apt to try something new when it's in an interesting, miniature shape, and adults will appreciate the one-bite appetizer. A sandwich grill works great for this recipe.

Tomatoes

Mozzarella pearls

Basil leaves

French bread loaf

Salt

(Decorative toothpicks top off the fun sandwiches)

1. Start by prepping and slicing. Slice the tomatoes into rounds, and then cut each one into fourths. This makes them the perfect size and shape to sit nicely on the bread.

2. Cut the loaf into thick slices. The width is important, since the bread gets thinner during the pressing process.

3. Using a larger cookie cutter—you need sturdy pieces of bread to work with—cut stars out of the slices, avoiding the crust.

4. Coat your grill with cooking spray so the bread doesn't stick. Then simply press down the top of the grill until you have nice marks. Make sure to clean the grill between each batch of stars.

5. Grilling the bread before you build the sandwich makes it easier to work with. If you try to make the sandwich and then grill it (like a panini), the insides of the sandwich will come out the sides and you'll lose the star shape. This technique also makes it easier to prep everything in advance—paninis quickly get cold and melted cheese will harden.

6. Start building the sandwiches. Layer tomato, basil, mozzarella, salt and bread. Mozzarella pearls are the perfect size, but if you have bigger balls of mozzarella, just cut them into smaller pieces. Basil can be ripped into the appropriate size. Everything should fit inside the bread (instead of hanging out the edges) in order to retain the star shape.

7. Top off the sandwiches with decorative toothpicks.

Presented on a two-tier cupcake tray, these sandwiches look great. The double layer adds depth and interest to the table. And the scraps that don't make it into the final product? A bit of olive oil on that left over bread makes for a great pre-party snack.

Get the whole recipe on one page here

You've probably made this recipe dozens of times—and your kids likely have, too. A few simple alterations make it perfect for celebrating the long weekend.

6 cups crispy rice cereal

4 cups mini marshmallows or about 40 regular marshmallows

3 tablespoons butter

Toppings of your choice

1. Measure out your ingredients—namely, the marshmallows and the cereal—beforehand.

2. Melt the butter over low heat in a large saucepan. Stir in marshmallows until they're totally melted.

3. Add the cereal, and stir until all of it is coated.

4. Coat a 13x9x2-inch pan with cooking spray or butter. Press in the cereal and marshmallow mixture using a spoon, spatula or wax paper.

5. Let it cool in the fridge until it's firm.

6. When the marshmallow and cereal mixture is firm take it out of the fridge. Use all different sized cookie cutters to cut out stars. Take some extra time to work the cutter into the cereal to get a good slice. The mixture will probably stick to the cutter, so you can just pull the whole thing out and then carefully poke every corner of the treat out of the cookie cutter so it remains star-shaped.

7. Start decorating! Frosting, sprinkles and other toppings will stick easily. If you have small children, arrange all the decorations in easy-to-reach bowls and let them have fun.

Use your imagination when thinking of toppings. Red sprinkles and frosting work wonderfully, but anything goes—M&M's, jelly beans, licorice … If you pick a nice color palette for your kids to choose from, the treats will look pretty and cohesive no matter how wild they get with the decorating.

Get the whole recipe on one page here

Everyone loves a nice glass of sangria. This Labor Day, let your kids (and pregnant friends) in on the action too! The fruit in this recipe works for both an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic version. One's white and the other's red, so no need to worry about getting cups mixed up!

Ingredients

Fruit

Strawberries

Blueberries

Pineapple

Lemon

Alcoholic version

1 bottle dry white wine

Half of a 750-milliliter bottle peach schnapps

Sprite or 7-Up to top off

Non-alcoholic version

Cranberry juice

Sprite or 7-up (juice and soda in equal parts)

1. Slice the pineapple into rounds, each about 1 inch thick.

2. Slice the strawberries into fourths, lengthwise.

3. Slice the lemons into rounds.

4. Cut the pineapple using the star cookie cutters in whatever size you'd like. Remember, the center of the pineapple can be tough, so it's easiest to try and cut around that part.

5. If you're having trouble getting the cookie cutter through the pineapple, use a knife to cut it out. You can still use the cookie cutter to get the definition of the star.

6. Mix the liquids together in pitchers (one for the alcoholic, one for the non-alcoholic). The white wine works well with these fruits because it isn't as overpowering as red wine, so you get the fresh, subtle flavors of blueberries and pineapple. Plus, with white wine you can see all the goodies inside the drink. And the soda gives a nice carbonation. Since the soda and schnapps are very sweet, it's good to use a dry wine.

7. Put the fruit in the pitcher: first blueberries, which sink to the bottom, then stars, which float and finally strawberries, which will rise to the top.

8. Let the fruit sit in the liquid for at least an hour or two to soak up all the flavors.

9. When you're ready to drink, you can either simply put the pitcher out and let guests serve themselves, or portion it yourself and then hand out cups individually. Either way, it helps to use a ladle to get all of the fruit. A clear pitcher and glasses—mason jars look especially pretty—let you show off the pretty fruit in the drink.

Get the whole recipe on one page here