Fat Friday #29 Quick Valentine Hearts (plus more 4 bonus cheap valentine ideas)

Its Friday the 13th and your forgot Valentines day? Unlucky huh? Opps you're in trouble now, well don't worry. You've got just over 12 hours to do something special. This weeks Fat Friday is a quick and fast Valentine recipe to impress your date. You can bake them a cake or use a plain shop bought cake if your super stretched for time. But by decorating with dark velvety ganche, you'll add a special touch to your cake. Also featured in this post are 4 more cheap and cost effective ways to spend Valentines day!

Heart Shaped Cake covered with chocolate ganche recipe:
Your sweethearts favourite cake baked into a square tin: Try using one of these recipes:
Salted Caramel Brownie
Red Velvet Cake
Blondies

Chocolate ganche recipe (my own)

• 200g dark chocolate
• 285g double cream

Equipment:

• The baking equipment needed or a pre-made cake to cut
• Saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Heatproof bowl
• Cranked palette knife or plain knife for spreading ganche
• heart shaped cutter
• Sharp knife

1. Bake your huni buni their favourite cake (Robs favourite is Salted Caramel Brownie) and let it cool completely.
2. Once cold, using a heart cookie cutter, cut out a heart shape, using a sharp knife. You should be left with lots of yummy off cuts and heart shaped mini cakes.
3. To make the ganche, heat up the double cream in a saucepan until its hot but not to boiling point.
4. Pour the hot cream on the dark chocolate and mix in until combined with a wooden spoon.
5. Once thickened up, spread on top of each heart and smooth until the sides and top are evenly coated.
6. Place your coated hearts in the fridge and serve with raspberries or strawberries and ice cream or whipped cream.

Other great (cost effective) valentine ideas
1. Create a date night jar- Grab a small jar and a some paper and write down some suggestions for a perfect day between you and your partner. You can class them by price or location if you like. Fold them up and place them in the jar. You can decorate your jar with glitter, sequins or anything you see fit.
2. Lazy meal deal- Many supermarkets now offer Valentine Meal deals, in which you pay, lets say £20 for a 3 course meal and wine. This is a cheap alternative to a meal out. Shop around the supermarkets for the best deals. Most of the time the meal deals are a 'throw in the oven' type of meals ensuring that you and your other half can enjoy some time together.
3. The scenic route- Do you have a park or a beach near you? Take a walk together without your mobile phone (or at least on silent) so your not disturbed. Get re-acquainted with your other half.
4. Movie night in- Grab a cute jar/box, add popcorn, crisps, a bad for you cheesy dip, chocolates, fizzy drinks and a couple of decent films. Instant night in, plus a great gift! Get films that you and your other half will really enjoy and veg out on the sofa.  

Have a Happy Valentines Day whatever your doing!

Fat Friday #28 Gluten Free Raspberry Love Hearts

It's a week and a day until dreaded Valentines day. I'm sure you know how I feel about Valentines day here. Erg, but its a good excuse to bake cute heart shaped things, such as this weeks Fat Friday. We're looking at gluten free raspberry love hearts. You can make them with normal plain flour, but I chose to use gluten free flour to use it up. These are great on there own or served with ice cream or whipped cream as a dessert. The recipe is easy to make so you can make them up to the day before as a surprise for your valentine. Or you can scoff them yourself. Either way!

 

Biscuit recipe (Recipe adapted from The Great British Bake off Showstoppers by Linda Collister):

·       100g ground almonds

·       200g Gluten free plain flour (I used Dove brand), sifted

·       80g icing sugar

·       Pinch of salt

·       125g unsalted butter, diced and chilled

·       3 large egg yolks

Raspberry filling:

·       200g fresh raspberries

·       2 teaspoons cornflour

·       3 tablespoons icing sugar, plus a extra for dusting

Equipment:

·       Bowl

·       Sieve

·       Saucepan

·       Heatproof bowl

·       Clingfilm

·       8cm heart cookie cutter

·       Smaller heart cookie cutter

·       Baking sheet lined with baking parchment x 2

·       Rolling pin

Biscuit Method:
1.    Put the almonds, flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients until crumbly.
2.    Add the egg yolks until the mixture forms a dough. Leave in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3.    Roll out the dough until 2mm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out the heart shapes, then use the smaller cutter to cut out the middle.
4.    Gather up the trimmings, re-roll and repeat until no more dough is left. Make 12 hearts and 12 smaller hearts.
5.    Place the hearts on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge for another 15 minutes.
6.    Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Bake for 12 minutes until lightly coloured.
7.    Leave the biscuits on the baking sheets for 10 minutes to cool. Transfer to wire rack.

Filling Method:
1.    Put the raspberries, icing sugar and cornflour in saucepan on a medium heat.
2.    Stir gently until the juices start to run.
3.    Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thick.
4.    Pour into a heatproof bowl to cool.

To finish:

1.    Spread the cold raspberry filling over the uncut biscuits, top with an uncut biscuit.

2.    Dust with icing sugar and consume with a loved one or stuff by yourself while watching a tacky rom-com or a horror film each to their own.

If you want to see some more loved up recipes try these:
Anti Valentines Gluten Free Zombie Biscuits
Limoncello truffles
Valentines heart shaped biscuits

Have a great weekend and feel the lurve! 

Anti Valentines Gluten-Free Zombie Cookies

It's a little late in February for a Valentines post but I don't like Valentines so there you go. I like the idea to dress up in red and eatting chocolates and sweets but thats it. I don't fancy overpaying for a meal that costs less any other day, but because its Valentines day its £60 for a sub-par 3 course meal and a cheap glass of plonk wine... Yeah no thanks... 

But I appreciate that people think its a real holiday and people really go above and beyond to celebrate. I made my feelings about Valentines clear last year in this post. 

Yet last year, I still fell into the trap of making treats for Valentines day. I caved into the pressure!! Damn you Valentines! Actually the truffles and biscuits were very tasty and it was nice to have the boyfriend around to fight over them with as well. 

So what happened this year? The weekend before Valentines I spent with my boyfriend because I have too many university deadlines and we don't really do Valentines. We prefer to make anytime we spend together special rather then just the one day. 

I had spent Valentines weekend alone eating chocolates and baking of course! This year I decided to channel my distaste for Valentines with these horrors:

They want your heart and your brains!!! 

Using the dough recipe and icing recipe on last years Valentine heart biscuits by using Fred biscuit cutters (which I got as an epic Christmas present. Thanks Ben and Lucy!) I was able to create some yummy biscuit creations, however they became really wet. At first I thought: Must have made the icing wrong. But I found out that one of my family members had stored the biscuits in a moist environment (it was stored in very cold conservatory). So that's why the biscuits ran but they just look more horrific, which is the look that is really on trend, well it is for zombies. 

My advice when you start these biscuits:

• Bake your biscuits and make sure they are cold or your icing will warp.
• While your biscuits are baking draw how you would like to decorate your biscuits. I really went to town with my doodles.
• Stick with 3-4 colours for your zombies. I used 5 colours and it got fiddley and annoying as I wanted it done by colour 3. 
• Do one colour at a time, one zombie at a time. I tried to fill in all the greens on all the zombies. That doesn't work and it will cause a mess. This is why 2 batches were made so you had the outlines icing and the filling icing

Recipe: Makes 20 biscuits

•     125g unsalted butter
•     125g caster sugar
•     1 medium egg
•     1 tsp vanilla extract
•     250g Doves Farm plain flour, sieved plus a little extra to flour your work surface.

Equipment:

•     Electric whisk
•     Bowl
•     Sieve
•     Undead Fread Cookie cutters
•     Speech Bubble cookie cutter (I don't have one so I used a paper template)
•     Whisk
•     Cling-film
•     Baking sheet lined with parchment
•     Rolling pin

   1.    In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.

   2.    Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.

3.    Sift half the flour into the bowl and mix in, then sift in the other half and mix again.

   4.    Knead the dough until smooth, then wrap in cling-film and let it rest in the freezer for an hour at least. 

   5.    Pre-heat your oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4.

   6.    Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to around 4mm thick and cut out into zombie shapes.

   7.    Place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool before decorating.

Recipe: Stiff peak royal icing

•     1kg icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar
•     4 medium egg whites
•     2 tsp lemon juice
•     Green, blue, black and red food colouring paste (you can leave a little icing white if you prefer)

Equipment:

•     Electric whisk
•     Bowl x 5
•     Sieve
•     10 disposable piping bags
•     Scissors
•     Forks x 5
•     Toothpick
•     Tissue
•     Tablespoons x 5
•     Zombie decorating sheet

1.    Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.

2.    Add the egg whites and the lemon juice to the icing sugar and mix together for about 5 minutes.

3.    The mix should look smooth and shiny. If it looks a little dry then add one drop of lemon juice and mix for a minute.

4.Once your icing makes a stiff peak put it in 4 clean bowls (5 if you keeping a little white icing).

5. Colour the different bowls different colours using the food colouring. (Leave one of the icing bowls coloured white)

6. Quarter fill, 4 (or 5) of the piping bags with each colour. Snip a small hole in the top of each bag.

7. Take a biscuit and starting from the top centre, pipe an different coloured outlines around the inside edge of the biscuit to the tip of the zombie. 

8.    Make sure there are no holes or missing gaps in the zombies, if there are fill them in with the correct colour.

9.    Once all the zombies have been outlined, add a teaspoon of water to each of the colours until the consistency of each icing is runny. Keep adding water, carefully, until it reaches running consistency but not watery.

10.  Fill each 4 (or 5) more disposable piping bags and cut small holes in the ends.

11.  Flood the inside of the biscuit starting at the edge and zigzagging up and down until completely flooded.

12. Once your speech bubbles are completely dry (AND ONLY WHEN COMPLETELY DRY!!) write your beloved a message.

Messages such as:

I love you for your brains

I fancy a bie... out of you...

Want dinner...want you!! BRAINS!

You can be very creative with this of course.

Happy Valentines!

Limoncello Valentine Creams and Valentine Heart Shaped Biscuits

Valentines day is only one day away. I finally managed to make both  Limoncello truffles and Valentine Heart Biscuits. I didn't think that I would be able to make anything this year as I've been busy with work and home life etc etc. 

But I managed so woo!

Limoncello is a lemon based liquor originating in Italy. It's a really nice drink with lemonade in summer or neat but I don't recommend it! I know a certain friend, that can't stand the smell of limoncello because she got drunk and I wont name name's. Right Sof? Haha. 

You will need about 3 days to make these but that's because the truffles go into freezer twice. 
Day 1: Make truffle centre, pop in freezer
Day 2: Roll into balls. Back in freezer.
Day 3: Cover in chocolate and place in fridge to set. 

Before you go steaming in with this recipe, there's a little warning. Work with the truffle filling as quick as you can, as it's prone to melt at room temperature and at hand temperature. I wrapped some in little bags to give out as gifts, which were tied with floss, because I couldn't find any string. 

Recipe: Makes 36  

      ·   200g/7oz white chocolate

      ·   4 tbs double cream

      ·   Grated zest of 1 lemon

      ·   4 tbsp limoncello liqueur

      ·   100g/4oz butter

      ·   600g/22oz white chocolate, for tempering

      ·   Sprinkles/glitter

      ·   Pink food colour paste (optional)

Equipment:

     ·   Heatproof Bowl

     ·   Saucepan

     ·  Wooden Spoon

     ·  Whisk

     ·  Sealable container

     ·  Tablespoon

     ·  Teaspoon

     ·  2x Boards or plates covered with parchment paper

     ·  Fork 

    1.    Heat 5cm/2 inch water in a saucepan. Put a heatproof bowl on top of the pan, making sure the bottom of bowl does not touch the water. Place the 200g of chocolate in the bowl with the cream and heat gently to allow the chocolate to melt. If using put the food colouring into the mix at this stage.

    2.    Take the bowl off the heat and toss in the lemon zest, limoncello and butter. Whisk until the mixture looks like lemon curd.

   3.  Spoon into a sealable container, put the lid on and chill in the fridge overnight.

    Now go read a book or have a nap or just go about your business.

    4.    Scoop small teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls. Put on a board lined with baking parchment and freeze overnight.

   
   Once again go outside and play in the snow (It's been snowing here in London again but now it's all slush by now.)
  
  5.   Temper the 600g chocolate by chopping it into pieces, then place it into a microwavable bowl and melt at 800-1000W, checking it 15 seconds and taking care that it doesn’t overheat. When the chocolate looks nearly melted but there are still a few bits bobbed on top, take it out of the microwave and stir in the chocolate gently until smooth.

    

   Look at the intense concentration on my face as I coat each truffle. I don't do photo's that well and it was on my bad side, of course. 
   6. Using a fork and spoon dip each truffle into the chocolate. Toss about to coat then lift out and place back onto the parchment paper, roughing the chocolate with a fork for a textured effect. Decorate while still wet. Repeat with all the truffles.

    7.    Place them in the fridge to set.
    8. Eat or wrap in bags to give away.

These biscuits are easy to make and make great gifts for that special someone. They will need a few hours to completely dry. I recommend that you make them a couple of days ahead of when you need them. 

Recipe: Makes 20 biscuits

    · 125g unsalted butter

    · 125g caster sugar

    · 1 medium egg

    · 1 tsp vanilla extract

    · 250g plain flour, sieved plus a little extra to flour your work surface.

Equipment:

   · Electric whisk

   ·      Bowl

   ·      Sieve

   ·      Heart shaped cutter

   ·      Whisk

   ·      Cling-film

   ·      Baking sheet lined with parchment

   ·      Rolling pin

   1.    In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.

   2.    Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.

   3.    Sift half the flour into the bowl and mix in, then sift in the other half and mix again.

   4.    Knead the dough until smooth, then wrap in cling-film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

   5.    Pre-heat your oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4.

   6.    Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to around 4mm thick and cut out into heart shapes.

   7.    Place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool before decorating.

Recipe: Stiff peak royal icing

    · 500g icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar

    · 2 medium egg whites

    · 1 tsp lemon juice

    · Red and pink food colouring paste

Equipment:

    ·  Electric whisk

    · Bowl x 4

    ·  Sieve

    · 6 disposable piping bags

    · Scissors

    · Forks x 3

    · Toothpick

    · Tissue

    · Tablespoons x 3

1.    Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.

2.    Add the egg whites and the lemon juice to the icing sugar and mix together for about 5 minutes.

3.    The mix should look smooth and shiny. If it looks a little dry then add one drop of lemon juice and mix for a minute.

4.    Once your icing makes a stiff peak put it in 3 clean bowls.

5.    Colour 2 of the bowls of icing red and pink. Leave one of the icing bowls coloured white.

6.    Quarter fill, 3 of the piping bags with each colour. Snip a small hole in the top of each bag.

7.    Take a heart biscuit and starting from the top centre, pipe an outline around the inside edge of the biscuit to the tip of the heart. Stop and move the bag away from the biscuit quickly. Then repeat on the other side. You can do this in a combination of colours including half and half colours.

8.    Make sure there are no holes or missing gaps in the hearts, if there are fill them in with the correct colour.

9.    Once all the hearts have been outlined, add a teaspoon of water to each of the colours until the consistency of each icing is runny. Keep adding water, carefully, until it reaches running consistency.

10.  Fill each 3 more disposable piping bags and cut 3 small holes in the ends.

11.  Flood the inside of the biscuit starting at the edge and zigzagging up and down until completely flooded.

12.  Working as quick as you can, decorate your biscuit with other colours, by holding the tip of the bag just above the iced biscuit using a gentle pressure.

  13.  If you pipe 2 lines of icing on your biscuit and then using a toothpick drag lightly through the icing to create a marbled pattern. Wipe the toothpick with tissue to clean. You can even put dots instead of lines to make mini hearts.

I hope you all have a lovely Valentines day! Happy Baking!
Bake and Love On!
Penny