A box of chocolates or a dozen roses is always nice, but if you want to really impress your Valentine this year, nothing beats home-made.
Baking is more than a hobby for Kathy Baldwin, the kitchen supervisor at Partners in Prime in Southwest Ohio. She shared two of her recipes that are sure to show your significant other how much you care this Valentine’s Day.
Chocolate Bacon Cupcake
(Because the way to a man’s heart is bacon)
Yield: 12 cupcakes
INGREDIENTS:
5 Tbsp. of vegetable oil
¼ c. brewed coffee
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
1/3 c. unsaturated dutch cocoa
4 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
¾ c. flour
½ c. sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ c. buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting:
½ cup butter
¼ cup milk
1 cup brown sugar packed
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
6 slices cooked bacon
DIRECTIONS:
Combine vegetable oil, coffee, brown sugar, cocoa and milk chocolate in a bowl and microwave for about 2 minutes or until hot. Whisk until smooth and let cool for about 15 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, soda and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract to cooled chocolate mixture and whisk in flour mixture until combine. Line muffin pan with liners and drizzle batter. Bake on 350° for 20-25 minutes.
Frosting:
In sauce pan, melt butter and stir in brown sugar and cook and stir until bubbly. Remove from heat and add milk. Beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Immediately frost cupcakes. Add crumbled, cooked bacon and sprinkle with salt.
**Kathy’s Tip: I usually double the recipe. If I’m going to the trouble of creating a mess, I want to enjoy it!
White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
Yield: 48 cookies
INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. white chocolate baking bar
½ c. butter
½ c. sugar
1 c. Sugar
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
2 ¾ c. flour
Topping:
½ c. seedless raspberry jam
3 oz. white chocolate
½ tsp shortening
Directions:
Melt 4 oz. white chocolate over low heat and set aside to cool. Beat butter in large bowl with mixers on high. Add sugar, baking soda and salt and beat until combined. Beat in eggs and melted white chocolate, followed by flour. Chop remaining white chocolate and add to batter. Drop by teaspoon onto greased baking sheet and bake for 7-9 min. until lightly brown.
Top:
Heat and stir jam in small saucepan over low until melted. Spoon about 1 teaspoon jam on each cookie.
Heat and stir 3 oz. white chocolate and shortening in small sauce pan over low until melted. Drizzle each cookie with melted chocolate. Refrigerate cookies for about 15 minutes to firm chocolate topping.
This article originally appeared on Your Time.
