With Valentines Day right around the corner and the snow on its way , why not lavish the ones you love in chocolate this weekend. Host a Valentines Day dessert buffet and it will be all about sweets for your sweeties! Set a pretty table using red, white and pink. Make a signature cocktail, we made a pretty punch of Cranberry Juice, Seltzer and added some Vodka and the results were a beautiful pink cocktail. I have been collecting pink milk glass and pressed glass for years. They are the perfect accents for my Valentines Day buffet. I added in a pair of old pressed glass pedestal candy dishes and filled them with candy from the local grocery store and they looked fabulous. Look around your home, pull out pieces that make you happy and use them. By creating a romantically themed table with flowers, chocolate and a cocktail, you will want every day to be Valentines Day! Don’t forget to write a little love note to your someone special. Here are some easy tips to get you on your way.
Mini Chocolate Ganache Cakes:
These adorable little chocolate ganache mini cakes were made from the Barefoot Contessa box mix, available at WISH. The original recipe on the box calls for making this cake as a single cake, since I was hosting a buffet I wanted single servings so I made them in a cup cake pan instead.( I DID NOT USE CUPCAKE LINERS!) I didn’t think Ina would mind and the results were great! I added a sliced strawberry on top of a little extra added bonus. How pretty are these delectable little cakes served on my antique pink milkglass pedestal cake plate.
A personal favorite of my husbands are my Linzer Tarts. This very easy recipe, made from a box of cake mix. Yes they really are that easy and the taste will amaze everyone. This recipe will make both the Linzer Tarts and the heart shaped cookies. We filled the Linzer Tarts with our own Black Raspberry Jam from Stonewall kitchen. These are easy to do and if you have children they will love the job of sifting the powdered sugar on the top of the cookies.
Linzer Tarts:
- 1 box of white or yellow cake mix
- 1 pound (4 sticks) of butter
- 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
Preheat your oven to 350. In a small bowl, add 2 sticks of butter and micowave on high for 1 minute, or until melted. Cut up the other 2 sticks of butter and add to the melted butter and set aside. You do not want the butter to melt completely.
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and box of cake mix. Whisk the dry flour and cake mix together to remove any lumps, add butter all at once to the dry ingredients and blend all ingredients together. The dough should be smooth.
With floured hands, gently kneed your dough, adding flour as needed to form a firm ball of dough. Divide the ball into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a disk shape, ready to be rolled out.
Lightly flour your work surface, roll and cut out dough into desired shapes. Remember if making Linzar tarts, do an equal amount of tops to bottoms and add a middle cutout for your tops. Bake for about 15 minutes, the cookies will be a light golden brown, cool and place cookies on a cooling rack.
When cookies are completely cooled they can be filled or iced with royal icing. Linzar tarts get a light dusting of powdered sugar sprinkled on them.
Royal Icing:
- 1 egg
- 3 cups of powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons water, as needed
- food coloring
Separate the egg white from the yoke, discard the yoke. Whisk the egg white until frothy, gradually add 3 cups of powdered sugar, your mix will be thick and smooth.
You may divide the icing into smaller bowls to create more colors if wanted. Add food coloring one drop at a time until your desired color is achieved.
I like to ice my cookies with a flat knife, I feel this gives the best coverage. You can also add this icing to a pasty bag and pipe designs for another look.
Enjoy, spread the love !
