Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

   

Here are some fun gift ideas for Valentine's Day :) Hope you like this video!

Cute Chocolates

These are the chocolates that I surprised James with for Valentine's Day. Aren't they cute? This little couple and the house are my favorites. It's me and James! hehe

I made these chocolates from molds that I bought in Seoul. They were too cute to pass up! This was my first time making chocolate with molds and it was really fun. I need to work on tempering my chocolate correctly because some of it bloomed. They were still tasty though and James didn't mind one bit :)

Chocolate candy mold I bought in Seoul :)

Btw, I used Guittard white and milk chocolate and pink candy melts for the details.

Happy Valentine's Day!

EEek! These turned out so cute! I love them so much! Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine's Day. Hope these little cute faces made you as happy as I am :)

Like the New Year's macarons, I used edible Pearl Dust mixed with a little vanilla extract to paint the gold details. I "glued" on the heart sprinkles with a bit of melted white chocolate. As for the faces, I made tiny stencils with cute animal craft punches that I bought in Japan. I then place the stencils onto the macarons and filled them in with edible markers. It's really simple. I will make a tutorial post soon :) You can also draw it free-hand if you like but I like how uniform they all look with the homemade stencils.
 

I also made some heart-shaped ones :)

The whole gang hehe

Close-up of the tiny bear face...too cute!

Homemade Kit Kats

Here's a simple treat to make for Valentine's Day! I was inspired to make my own Kit Kat bars after seeing so many cool Kit Kat flavors in Japan :)

All you need to do is buy wafer cookies and cover them with melted chocolate (so easy right?!) Here I used white chocolate and strawberry wafer cookies. You can find wafer cookies in many different flavors. I even saw taro-flavored ones at my local Asian supermarket!

I made these on a whim so I don't have exact measurements but 5 ounces of chocolate should cover at least 4-6 wafer cookies depending on their size.

Ingredients
wafer cookies (any flavor you like)
white, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate (look for good quality brands like Guittard, Valrhona, or Scharffen Berger)
 
Directions
1. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and place a cooling rack on top.
2. Place the wafer cookies about an inch apart on the cooling rack.
3. Chop the chocolate with a serrated knife. The smaller you chop up the chocolate, the easier it will be to melt it.
4. Put the chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds. Remove, stir, and continue to do this (heat for 15-20 seconds, remove, and stir) until the chocolate is just melted. Stir until it's completely smooth.*
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the wafer cookies; making sure to cover them completely.
6. Decorate with sprinkles if you like. 
7. Let the chocolate set/harden (about 30 minutes) and enjoy!

*Here after the chocolate has fully melted, I also stirred in a small packet of strawberry-flavored crystals called "Strawberry Crunch" that I bought in Japan to boost the strawberry flavor.

I haven't tried the strawberry-flavored Kit Kats in Japan yet but these will do. They were so good! The high quality white chocolate gives it a very gourmet taste. I can't wait to make other flavor combinations :)

Have you tried any fun Kit Kat flavors from Japan?

Sweet-hearts

Valentine's Day is coming up! I love holidays and celebrations so I'm happily planning the sweet treats I'm going to make. Maybe I'll make these heart macarons again. I made them sometime last year but forgot to share the photos! I love the edible heart glitters. They made them extra cute! Are you planning to bake anything sweet this Valentine's Day?

Btw, I made these heart macarons by piping a short v-shape with a 1/2-in round tip :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love how the ribbon roses echo the frosting on the cupcakes :)

Hope you all have a lovely and sweet Valentine's Day tomorrow. I had an early celebration with my family and with James this past weekend. I ended up making a different variation of my favorite red velvet cupcakes recipe. The only difference is that I used 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder instead of 2 teaspoons. This made the cupcakes less red but a lot more chocolaty :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes about 18 cupcakes)

Recipe adapted from Sylvia's Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

2½ cups sifted cake flour

2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature
1 ounce red food coloring
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 

In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure they are well combined after each addition. On low speed, add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the buttermilk (starting and ending with the flour mixture). Add the food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is evenly combined.

Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full. (I like using an ice cream scoop for this. It makes it a lot faster and easier to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.) Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. They’re done when a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer pans to wire rack and let them cool for about 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pans and let them cool completely on the wire rack before topping them with the frosting.

Cupcakes can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Let them get to room temperature (about 20-30 minutes) before serving them.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe adapted from Sylvia's Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract on medium speed until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the confectioners' sugar and beat until the frosting is smooth.