Category: valentine’s day

I am so excited to share this shortbread cookie recipe with you today! These melt-in-your-mouth delicious cookies are beautiful, quick and easy. You seriously won’t believe how easy these are. And the flavor combination of orange and rose? Un. Real. You’ll have to try them to believe it, and then you’ll never go back!

Let’s talk special ingredients. In the cookies, I used orange blossom extract along with orange zest. The flavor of orange blossom extract is softer and more delicate than traditional orange. I really like how subtle the flavor is in the cookies, and how the orange zest brightens is up just a tetch. Honestly these cookies could totally be eaten alone (I’m your witness, I probably ate 5), but oh my gosh they are made even more outstanding by the glaze. Which brings me to the next special ingredient – rose water extract. This extract smells very perfumy, and you definitely have to toe the line between soap and delicious. But when you hit that balance, it’s total perfection.

Makes about 18-20 small cookies

Cookie Ingredients: 

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup corn starch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon orange blossom extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of one orange (keep the rest of the orange for the glaze)

Glaze Ingredients:

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon rose water extract

Directions: 

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cornstarch, mixing until well combined. Add the flour, extracts and orange zest, and mix until just combined. It may look too dry, and like it won’t come together. Just keep mixing – it will!

Roll the dough into two logs, and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, or until the dough is cold. Preheat the oven to 300, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Arrange the cookies on the lined baking sheets, and bake about 30 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to color. Be sure not to overbake! Remove from the oven, and let cool on the sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

For the glaze: When the cookies are completely cooled, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. I like to use a fork to combine the powdered sugar with the orange juice. Dip each cookie into the glaze, and allow to dry on the cooling rack until the glaze is hardened. Garnish with dried rose buds (just make sure they’re food grade like these), and serve!

I am all about one bowl recipes, and you guys are too! They’re always my top performing recipes, and I’m not surprised! I love baking but I’m not a huge fan of kitchen clean up (just ask my husband, ha!). So I love making all of our lives easier and happier with one-bowl desserts.

Dense and Fudgy Brownies With Cream Cheese Frosting

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• Author: Kirsten Bell
• Prep Time: 15 Minutes
• Cook Time: 25 Minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 12 Brownies 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Baking

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Description

Easy, dense and fudgy brownies for true chocolate lovers! Topped with cream cheese frosting for an extra delicious twist!

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Ingredients

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Brownie Ingredients:

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

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Instructions

Brownie Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f, and grease an 8×8 baking dish. Set aside.

Combine the coffee, butter, vanilla and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, mixing until just combined. Add the cocoa and salt, give it a quick stir, and then stir in the flour until no flour shows anymore. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly into the greased baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cut into squares, or use a festive cookie cutter and snack on the scraps (waste not, right?).

Frosting Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add two cups of powdered sugar and vanilla, increasing speed to high for 2-3 minutes once all the sugar is incorporated. Add more powdered sugar if the frosting is too soft to hold a peak.

For the coloring, I used Americolor Deep Pink gel color in varying amounts for the different shades of pink.

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Notes

I always use gel colors instead of liquid food coloring, because you don’t need to worry about messing up frosting consistency. If you haven’t used gel before, I recommend putting the color onto a toothpick, not directly into the bowl. That’s because gel coloring is really strong, and I’ve messed up by adding wayyyy too much. It’s easy to do!

To achieve this festive Valentine’s Day look, I used three different Wilton decorating tips. The first tip which made the light pink, larger flowers was Tip No. 224. The star tip that made the brighter pink stars was Tip No. 18, and the cream circles was Tip No. 5. I have this decorating piping tip kit, which I love! It has all the basics and I love the storage case. Plus it’s way more cost effective to buy the kit rather than individual tips.

If you love chocolate as much as I do, check out the following recipes too!

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Raspberry Dark Chocolate Ganache

S’mores Cupcakes with Smoked Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

Ready for a chocolate overload cake? (As if that was even a thing.) I’ve got you covered, just in time for Valentine’s Day! This dense, moist chocolate cake is covered with dark chocolate raspberry ganache in the place of frosting – perfect for those of you who love cake but might not always love frosting!

We got this beautiful heart bundt cake pan as one of our wedding presents, and I think it’s so beautiful! As is true with any bundt pan, make sure you grease the pan really well, and also dust with flour! Bundt cakes are notorious for sticking, you may have seen on my Instagram stories a few weeks back that my cake stuck when I didn’t flour the pan!

That’s the only special instruction for this recipe – it’s really simple overall, and I know you’ll love it! If you’re looking for a chocolate Valentine’s Day dessert, this is it! Guaranteed to satisfy even the strongest chocolate craving!

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup coffee
1 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs

Ganache Ingredients: 

1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon raspberry extract or Chambord

Cake Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan very well, followed by a dusting of flour. This will help prevent the cake from sticking.

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the buttermilk, coffee, butter, sour cream and vanilla. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until the ingredients are just combined.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a large toothpick comes out clean. I use large wooden skewers!

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Then carefully turn the pan upside down over a baking sheet. Allow to sit for an additional 10 minutes, then carefully lift the pan off the cake.

Ganache Directions: 

Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan or in the microwave until the cream begins to steam. Pour over the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl, and stir until combined and the chocolate is melted and silky. If needed, heat the chocolate mixture in the microwave in 10 second increments until fully melted. Add the extract or Chambord,stirring to combine. Drizzle over the top of the bundt cake. I like to be pretty generous with my ganache! Allow to set for a few minutes, and garnish with a few fresh raspberries before serving!

Are you guys ready for a Valentine’s Dessert recipe that will knock the socks off your friends and family? Well, these red velvet cream cheese cookies might just be it! These thick, cakey cookies literally melt in your mouth when you take a bite. And that pretty red color? Valentine’s Day cookie perfection!

You can top these pretty little cookies with festive sprinkles, or dust them with powdered sugar! When you take your first bite, you’ll be thanking me from afar!

A few notes to ensure baking success:

• These cookies need to be chilled in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Don’t skip this step! It’s important that the butter is cold when it goes into the oven – that’s what makes cookies thick. 
• The dough is going to be sticky, so be sure to dust your hands with flour before rolling the dough into balls. You can re-dust your hands as much as you need – I did it every 2-3 cookies. I also washed my hands a few times during the process. It’s totally worth it! 
• Use gel food coloring, not liquid. The reason is that our solid to liquid ratio is already on the edge (see above!), so adding even more is going to make rolling these into balls a real challenge. Plus, I prefer gel color because you need way less. I always feel kind of sick dumping a whole container of red liquid color into batter or dough, and sometimes can taste the food coloring too. Not with gel! I use and love this kind. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
Red food coloring gel
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for rolling
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions: 

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until combined, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Add food coloring until you reach your color preference. I use gel food coloring, see notes above.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill it in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Measure the all-purpose flour into a small bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Dust your hands with the flour, and roll the cookie dough into 1 inch sized balls, and place them on the lined baking sheets. Re-dust your hands as many times as needed – I dusted my hands between every 2-3 cookies.

Bake 9-11 minutes, or until the bottoms are just beginning to brown. They will be soft and may still look doughy, but if you can tap the bottom of a cookie and it easily slides, they’re done!

Dust with powdered sugar when they’ve cooled, and serve.