Anyone make any Valentine's Day treats?

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IrishLass

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Today I made a batch of my "Proper British Scones" to go along with the homemade clotted cream I made yesterday..... which I am nibbling on (or rather scarfing down) right now, along with some Twinning's Irish Breakfast Tea. Oh my- so yummy!

Although I haven't gotten around to it yet today, I also wanted to try out a homemade recipe for Drake's Devil Dogs that I found online on Gretchen's Bakery blog . I grew up on those things, but they are not available to me locally anymore (live too far away). I can have them shipped to me, but I do believe it'll be more fun to try to make them instead. I'm thinking of making Ermine Frosting to fill them instead of the American Buttercream she recommends on the site.

What are y'all making?


IrishLass :)
 
Your scones and clotted cream sound so yummy IL! Wish I could indulge but I'm trying a no-starch diet so no carby treats for awhile. But I saw this recipe the other day on my FB feed and it's on my to-make list https://www.makersmark.com/recipes/desserts/bacon-pecan-bourbon-baklava. Phyllo dough is so thin there can't be too much starch in there, right? Guess I'll just have to be satisfied pigging out on a huge ribeye steak, roasted corn & asparagus salad and grilled pineapple for dinner. :)
 
We made a few chocolate covered pretzels...lol

IMG_20160211_202637.jpg
 
I was thinking about making some cookies but was suckered by girl scouts at the grocery store into buying a bunch of cookies. They all cheered when I bought a box of thin mints so I ended up buying a a lot more... Then DH brought me some See's chocolates so I really do not need more sweets in house for a while. :)

Those scones and chocolate pretzels sound delicious!
 
always nice to hear someone admitting to their love of Drake's products...mine was Ring Dings...

I loved them all, but Funny Bones was my hands-down favorite. I have a really good homemade version of them that I came up with 2 years ago that is awesome, even if I do say so myself. I can post the recipe if you'd like. The peanut butter filling was the most difficult thing for me to get right. You know- it's amazing how different peanut butter fillings can be in taste and texture from each other. lol It took me more than a couple of attempts to get that dadgum peanut butter filling just right to my satisfaction but I was finally able to come up with one I could be proud of!

Speaking of your love for Ring Dings, here's a funny story about how much of a tempting power Ring Dings had over me at one time (well, at least it's funny now....at the time it was a bit less funny). When I was 5, we had a box of Ring Dings on the counter in our pantry, and when there was only one more Ring Ding left, my Dad called dibs on it to bring to lunch with him at work the next day, and he told me and my siblings in no uncertain terms that if he woke up and found it gone, the culprit would get a spanking (me and my siblings were notorious treat thieves at the time)..........Well, you can guess what happened. Yes- I knowingly ate the Ring Ding, and yes I got spanked. The fact that my dad was not known for ever making idle warnings is a testimony to how powerful of a hold those Drakes had on me. lol It was actually the first (and last) time I can ever remember my dad spanking me.....but I remember it so well- not because of the (unforgettable) single swat I got on the rear- but because I actually spied a tear or 2 running down his cheek after he did it. That really stuck with me, and I never stole a Drake's from him again.


IrishLass :)
 
I was supposed to have made cookies a couple of days ago but that was delayed to earlier today. My daughter got some candy from her aunt and gave her great grandma her valentine's gift. Her father sent me a text with a pic bouquet of flowers. I hate bouquets and pics of them are more useless. I love herbs and potted plants though.
 
I made "ugly rum and dark chocolate" truffles for the second time ever. My first try was 2 large batches for Christmas. This was meant to be a small treat for 2 to 3 days. I started out with 420g of 70% dark chocolate and it went downhill from there. The ganache got too cold to shape properly. I used bittersweet chocolate for dipping. Needless to say, these will be shared. This is only a portion of what I made.

Truffles_2_14_16.jpg
 
I'm in awe of you all; I'm the world's worst baker. IL scones and clotted cream sounds like heaven right now.

Since I don't bake, I treated myself and hubs to some mulled wine on V-Day. He handled the spaghetti and I managed to boil liquid and count cinnamon sticks, lol.
 
We made a few chocolate covered pretzels...lol

Wow, what a haul! Those look fantastic!




I made these yesterday. Two thumbs up!

~HL~

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/425449496028252304/


Bummer. I can't see them. All I could see was a page with several various pictures of a many different kinds of baked cookies and bars (several with pecans), then the page slowly shrunk and faded to black (most likely because I don't have a Pinterist account). Which ones did you make?




Her father sent me a text with a pic bouquet of flowers. I hate bouquets and pics of them are more useless. I love herbs and potted plants though.

Oh no! A pic bouquet?! lol Too funny......well, not so funny if you don't like them. If my hubby had sent a pic bouquet to me, though, I think I would have laughed my head off. He knows how impracticable a bouquet a 'real' flowers is to me....unless it was a potted bouquet that I could plant and enjoy forever. I do agree that getting herbs would be s a much better and practicable option, though- especially if they are rosemary or basil. Those I can use.




I made "ugly rum and dark chocolate" truffles for the second time ever. My first try was 2 large batches for Christmas. This was meant to be a small treat for 2 to 3 days. I started out with 420g of 70% dark chocolate and it went downhill from there. The ganache got too cold to shape properly. I used bittersweet chocolate for dipping. Needless to say, these will be shared. This is only a portion of what I made.

Goodness- if those are ugly, I wonder what the good ones look like, because from where I'm sitting, they look quite yummy and drool-worthy!




I'm in awe of you all; I'm the world's worst baker. IL scones and clotted cream sounds like heaven right now.

Since I don't bake, I treated myself and hubs to some mulled wine on V-Day. He handled the spaghetti and I managed to boil liquid and count cinnamon sticks, lol.


It sounds like you had a very romantic evening. :)


IrishLass :)
 
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I made "ugly rum and dark chocolate" truffles for the second time ever. My first try was 2 large batches for Christmas. This was meant to be a small treat for 2 to 3 days. I started out with 420g of 70% dark chocolate and it went downhill from there. The ganache got too cold to shape properly. I used bittersweet chocolate for dipping. Needless to say, these will be shared. This is only a portion of what I made.

If that's ugly, what does pretty look like? That looks like it belongs in my belly.


Irish, that's my thing. If I was given potted flowers at least, I would be far more appreciative. Potted herbs would have landed him a sauce or a soup. But a bouquet is just the castrated parts of plants that are pretty.
 
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Thank you for the kind words! Trust me by truffle standards, mine are a disgrace. They are uneven to say the least. Each piece weighs between 25 and 50g. Trying to dip chocolates using 2 forks is a comedy act. I definitely need to buy some tools.

The taste is heavenly. I used the Lindt 70% Ecuadorian couverture chocolate from Amazon. It has about 25% of the sugar that the Godiva truffles have and tastes so much better. If I ever get to participate in a soap swap, everybody will get truffles. I'm developing a new addiction.
 
Thank you for the kind words! Trust me by truffle standards, mine are a disgrace. They are uneven to say the least. Each piece weighs between 25 and 50g. Trying to dip chocolates using 2 forks is a comedy act. I definitely need to buy some tools.

The taste is heavenly. I used the Lindt 70% Ecuadorian couverture chocolate from Amazon. It has about 25% of the sugar that the Godiva truffles have and tastes so much better. If I ever get to participate in a soap swap, everybody will get truffles. I'm developing a new addiction.

To me, unless it's one of those type of contests, taste is most important.
 
Thank you for the kind words! Trust me by truffle standards, mine are a disgrace. They are uneven to say the least. Each piece weighs between 25 and 50g. Trying to dip chocolates using 2 forks is a comedy act. I definitely need to buy some tools.

The taste is heavenly. I used the Lindt 70% Ecuadorian couverture chocolate from Amazon. It has about 25% of the sugar that the Godiva truffles have and tastes so much better. If I ever get to participate in a soap swap, everybody will get truffles. I'm developing a new addiction.
SM, I'm with Arimara!! I would rather have good tasting homemade goodies anytime, no matter how they look. Over a goodie that looks perfect, but tastes like" why did I spend $ on that, it's so bad my dog won't eat it". I've had those. I make cake balls at home & they never look perfectly round, some are different sizes. I won't buy a mold, so they have the flat bottom. Everyone loves them!!
 
And I'm with Arimara and BusyHands! :) Looks count for nothing if it tastes great!

BusyHands- I love your siggie. I have always considered being a mother my highest calling, too...... and one of the biggest blessings ever to be bestowed with upon this earth. :)


IrishLass :)
 
For the monthly game night of my gaming group, I made Alton Brown's devil's food cake in a heart-shaped pan(and frosted it with the accompanying frosting recipe). For the weekly game on V-Day itself, I had baked a pound cake the week before with homemade blueberry jam swirled in (I forgot to bring it the week before, so it had sat in my freezer all week to wait for the next game!)

No pics available of the swirl cake, sadly...

image.jpg
 
That looks quite yummy! I just had a look-see at Alton's recipe, and I noticed that his frosting recipe has mayonnaise in it. I confess I've never before seen a frosting recipe that calls for mayonnaise, although I've sometimes used mayonnaise as part of the actual cake batter ingredients. Curious minds want to know- how does it taste in frosting?

I finally got around to making my faux Devil Dogs using that recipe from Gretchen's Bakery for the cake part. I'm going to have to tweak the recipe a little bit by adding in a little espresso powder next time, though, since they turned out too bland.....not enough chocolate flavor for the likes of me. I always find that adding just a little espresso helps to bring out the chocolate flavor without making things taste like coffee.

For the filling, I actually made 2 kinds of frosting.....just to see which one tasted better. One was ermine frosting, which is also known to go by these other names: cooked flour frosting, flour buttercream, roux frosting, heritage frosting, Mary Kay frosting, miracle frosting, etc.. Seems like almost everyone as their own name for it. lol My favorite name for it is ermine, for no other reason than it just sounds nicer to my ear. lol It was supposedly the original frosting to top Red Velvet cake before cream cheese frosting came along (ermine and velvet). It sounded really weird to me at first to make a frosting from a cooked flour/milk roux base, but once I tasted it, I became totally sold on it. It's so light and creamy, you'd swear you were eating a frosting made from whipped cream. You'd never guess in a million years there was flour in it. I also like it because it's not overpoweringly sweet. It's just basically equal parts of butter, milk and sugar, a teaspoon to 1 tbsp. vanilla, and a variable amount of flour, according to how stiff you want the frosting to be. It takes well to being flavored, too.

I make it by mixing the flour and sugar together, whisking it into the milk so that it is lump-free, then I cook it over medium heat (constantly stirring/whisking) until it becomes a really super thick paste of mashed potato-like consistency. Then I transfer it to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap touching the surface and place it in the fridge to totally cool off. Once it's cool, I dump it in a mixing bowl, add the vanilla, and beat it with a hand-mixer so that it is smooth and somewhat fluffy and set it aside. In another mixing bowl I beat my room temp-ish but cool butter (about 65F) until light and fluffy, and then I dump the beaten roux into it and beat together for about 5 minutes until fluffy.

I also made a Swiss meringue buttercream frosting (the first time I've ever made SMBC, actually). It turned out fantastic, but I'm going to have to tweak the recipe I used because it came out a bit too sweet for my likes. I used the recipe and method from here: http://www.cakepaperparty.com/2014/04/foolproof-swiss-meringue-buttercream/ By the way, the easier foolproof method she touts in the blog worked wonderfully for me without a hitch. And I was able to use up most of my stash of egg whites that I had stored in my freezer (I save all my whites whenever making recipes that call for yolks). They worked really nice in spite of being frozen for over a year, and in some cases over 2 years old. Oh- and the frosting itself can be frozen for many months for later use (and it takes to flavoring nicely, too).

Ermine vs. SMBC? I think it's a draw for me. They both have a wonderfully light, whipped cream-like texture that I really love in a frosting, especially when compared to an American buttercream, which I absolutely hate. American buttercream is basically made by beating butter and powdered sugar together- blech (my apologies to anyone that likes American buttercream). I figure if I happen to be low on flour, I'll make the SMBC, and if I'm low on egg whites, I'll make the ermine.


IrishLass :)
 
The interesting thing about Alton's frosting is that you can't taste the mayo! It's just there for texture. It just tastes like chocolate buttercream at the end (though slightly fluffier and softer than your standard american buttercream).

I remember Ree Drummond on her show making the ermine frosting when she did red velvet cake, and she mentioned it being there before cream cheese as well. Can you share your recipe? I'm planning on making a red velvet cake for Easter, and I'm not a fan of cream cheese frosting.

Also don't let the shape of my heart cake fool you--it's a sheet cake. lol The pan is shaped to give it that tiered look. (I need to remember to lower the oven temp for it, though!)
 

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