Warning from Author: Extremely corny puns up ahead
Valentine's day may have passed already, but why limit displays of affection to just one day a year? And what better way to express your love to the apple of your eye than whipping up some confections of perfection (it's the yeast you could do). After all, the way to man's heart is through his stomach.
Here are some easy recipes you absolutely knead to try.
1) Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
The quintessential little Valentine's treat - simple, elegant and easy to make. But equally as easy to get wrong. To avoid stirring up trouble in the form of a chunky, dry, chocolate coating, make sure to stir the chocolate (and continue stirring) as soon as you start the melting process.
Ingredients:
20 strawberries
Roughly 6 ounces of semi-sweet or dark chocolate
Extra white chocolate (for drizzling)
1) Make a double boiler: fill a small saucepan with a couple of inches of water and place a heatproof bowl on top so that it rests comfortably on the edges of the pan and no water is the water isn’t touching the bowl. Heat on medium until the water is simmering.
2) Place all the dark chocolate into the bowl and STIR. And keep stirring. Seriously, I keep reiterating this because it makes all the difference. I'm talking chocolate as smooth as Sam Smith's voice. (bonus – this can serve as a pretty decent arm workout)
3) Once the chocolate has melted and your persistence with a whisk has paid off, remove the bowl from the heat.
4) Line a tray with parchment paper or wax paper.
5) Carefully dip each strawberry into the chocolate, twisting by the stem for even coverage. Let the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl and rest the fruit on the parchment.
6) If you want to get extra fancy, melt a small portion of white chocolate using the same double boiler method as earlier and drizzle over the berries with a fork.
2) Nutella cupcakes. Because Nutella.
Makes a dozen cupcakes.
Ingredients:
Chocolate cake batter (you can use your favourite recipe, or some store bought mix for less work)
1 13-ounce jar of Nutella (yes, a whole jar)
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of heavy cream
5 ounces of sifted powdered sugar
A pinch of salt
Mixer
1) Prepare the cake mix/recipe as needed and pour into 12 cupcake moulds. Bake according to instructions and set aside until cool.
2) To start the frosting, combine half of the jar of Nutella and the softened butter in a large mixing bowl and cream together until well combined. Slowly, slowly, slowly add in the sugar until well incorporated.
3) On low speed, add the salt, vanilla and half of the cream. Use the rest of the cream to adjust the consistency of the frosting until you are happy with it. Beat on high for about 3 minutes, or until the frosting is light and smooth in texture.
4) Use a small paring knife, a melon baller or an apple corer to hollow out the centres of the cupcakes.
5) Fill a piping bag with the remaining half jar of Nutella. If you don't have a piping bag you can simply fill up a re-sealable plastic bag with the Nutella and snip off the corner.
6) Pipe the Nutella into each cupcake and finish off by frosting them with the buttercream you prepared earlier.
Happy baking!
Nutella buttercream recipe taken from http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/
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