By Norene Cox
Special to The Herald
Wouldn’t you just love some easy dessert ideas for Valentine’s Day?
I’ve got you covered.
Too often I have gone to a restaurant, dazzled by the beauty of an amazing looking dessert only to be disappointed in how it tasted. It’s frustrating at best to be anticipating a dessert to be as flavorful as it looks only to have it taste, well, meh. And then there’s the price. Ouch.
Don’t get me wrong, no one loves a fancy schmancy dessert more than I do. Crème brulee, baked Alaska, chocolate truffle cheesecake. They are all so wonderfully decadent, but do you realize how time consuming they are to make? I’m no pastry chef, but I’m pretty sure if I start now I’ll probably be able to master a triple layer tiramisu by next Christmas. Maybe.
I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do is serve my sweetie a major Pinterest Fail on Valentine’s Day.
So if you’re like me, you’ll want a no-nonsense dessert recipe for Valentine’s Day without all of the fuss. After all, homemade doesn’t necessarily have to mean made from scratch, am I right?
I wanted to create some Valentine’s Day treats that kids and adults alike would love, so I started with my family’s favorite sweets and designed cute desserts around them. All of my recipes are easy to make and don’t require any baking or fancy ingredients. Everything can be found in your local grocery or craft store.
Love bug cookies
My son absolutely loves the chocolate covered marshmallow cookies Mallomars, and so I gave them a Valentine’s Day spin, made them into Love Bug Cookies and they turned out super cute. You’ll have a sweet spot in your heart, too, for these adorable ladybug chocolate marshmallow cookies.
1 (12 ounce) bag red candy coating wafers
12 chocolate coated marshmallow cookies (such as Mallomars)
24 candy eyes
Pink heart sprinkles
Black round confetti sprinkles
Black edible marker
Melt red candy coating according to package instructions.
Dip half of a chocolate coated marshmallow cookie into the red candy coating. Place on wax or parchment paper.
Arrange pink heart sprinkles and black round confetti sprinkles on the red candy coating while still wet.
With a toothpick dipped in melted candy coating, attach eyes to the top of the cookie.
Let dry completely.
Using a black edible marker, draw a line down the middle of the red candy coated half of the cookie.
Makes 12 cookies.
Brownie love bites
Now there’s nothing my hubby loves more than chocolate paired with raspberries. And you know those brownie bites that you can find in the bakery section of your grocery store? Well, he has been known to pound those down like nobody’s business. So I created some raspberry-filled brownie bites that are simple and elegant. They are so pretty and decadent, your sweetheart will think you have been baking all day, but you’ll fall in love with how easy these are to assemble.
24 store-bought Brownie Bites
1 jar raspberry preserves
1 (16 ounce) can of milk chocolate frosting
24 fresh red raspberries
Using a melon baller, scoop out a small hole in the middle of the brownie.
Spoon raspberry preserves in the center of hole the brownie.
Optional: Pipe chocolate frosting on the top of the brownie. I use the large open star (Wilton No. 1M) decorating tip with piping bag.
Place a fresh raspberry on top of frosting in the middle.
Makes 24 brownie bites.
Oreo penguin cookies
Oreos are everyone’s favorite cookie and my youngest happens to eat these by the fistful. Store-bought cookie icing from the baking aisle dresses them up to be the cutest little penguins ever. Add some heart sprinkles and you have the sweetest Valentine’s Day cookie that is so easy to make. These are a perfect edible craft for the kids to make, too.
Oreos
7-ounce pouch store-bought white cookie icing
Heart sprinkles, jumbo and small
Pink rainbow chip sprinkles
Black sugar pearls
Squeeze out cookie icing on top of the Oreo, leaving a “V” shape on top as shown in photo.
While the icing is still wet, place 2 of the black sugar pearls in the icing for the eyes.
Put 1 pink rainbow chip in the middle of the cookie the icing for the beak.
Place 2 small heart sprinkles in the icing at the bottom of the cookie for the feet.
Twist off the top of another Oreo cookie. Cut about 1/4 of the Oreo top and then cut that piece in half for the arms.
Place on top of the icing for the arms and attach a jumbo heart sprinkle to the top of an arm with icing.
Makes about 18 cookies.
It’s so easy to make your Valentine their favorite desserts even sweeter by crafting some cuteness into them. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Norene Cox is the author of “Party with Sweet Treats” and “Sweet Treats for the Holidays” available on Amazon.com. She is an Edmonds resident and loves writing, photography, her family, beagles and all things chocolate.
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