Valentines Day treats
So what's happening in 4 days? None other than Valentines Day of course, so I've gathered a few treats that I think would be lovely for the day.
1.) Waffle strawberry and mascarpone easy dessert - a few weeks ago I watched James Martin's 'Sweet' and the episode was called 'Supermarket' where he made easy desserts with supermarket bought items and I literally spent 5 minutes making this beautiful dessert and gave it to my dad. Let's just say he 'OH MY GOD'ed at it at least 3 times. Easy, beautiful and delicious = perfect.
2.) Chocolate cupcakes with cherry toppings and heart shaped shortbread sandwiches with jam filling - Okay, I may have cheated with these ones since they were made from last year and I just re-used the pictures but I'm planning to make them again so I guess that makes up for it? maybe? Anyway these are pretty easy to make and if you're lazy like me, just buy cupcake/cake mix and then follow the instructions and top with icing and some nice cherries for Valentines touch. For the shortbreads, make sure you don't roll them out too thin since they're not nice crispy or brown at all, fill with jam and you have some nice cookie sandwiches.
3.) Sweethearts chocolate and hazelnut sandwiches - I made this the other day with the recipe from Good Food's February magazine and my heart shaped cutter was bigger than the brioche bread so I had to make the smaller ones and then made the tiniest hearts as well as to not waste the off cuts and I must say this is a pretty heavenly breakfast. Fill the brioche bread (butter ones are really nice and soft) with Nutella for that hazelnut goodness, dip in egg, milk, vanilla extract and caster sugar mix and dip in chopped hazelnuts for that crunchy texture then fry until brown for that crispiness.
I decided to serve with mascarpone cream instead of ice cream like it said in the recipe as I thought it better with the creaminess and goes well with the strawberries as well :)
You better half would totally love this and it's totally a good start to V Day.
4.) Ferrero Roche cupcakes - who doesn't love Ferrero Roches (you there who just replied 'me' better re-think your answer). Ferreos for me are the ultimate Valentines/Christmas chocolates ever but then my opinion is biased since they're my favourite chocolates but they're just so lovely with the different layers and the surprise nut inside *sigh of love*
Buy a cake mix, follow the instructions, place the Ferrero Roche in the middle before putting in the oven and then bake it and voila = you have the awesomest and easiet cup cakes.
5.) Macarons - macarons are just the ultimate treat, they're light, they're sweet and they're oh so cute with the different colours. I haven't perfected making macarons yet but this batch wasn't so bad. Just use butter cream, add pink/red food colouring for Valentines and tada! You have some pretty nice macarons :)
I hope you all have a lovely Valentines Day with you loved ones and if you're single then hey, all the better, you can make all these and keep it all to yourself right? Greedy you say? Of course not, not if it's Valentines Day!
