Valentine Treats

When it comes to Valentine's Day gifts, you can never go wrong with tasty treats made with love. Whether you’re preparing something special for your Valentine or handing out treat bags to friends, we’ve rounded up our favourite sweet treat recipes that deliver on flavour and creativity.

Melting Heart Muffins

Makes 8

Ingredients:
175g butter
200g light muscovado sugar
50g cocoa
140g self-raising flour
2 large eggs
8 white truffles

For decorations:
150g butter, softened
300g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cocoa
8 white chocolate hearts

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4 and line a muffin tin with eight paper cases. Melt the butter in a small pan, then leave to cool for 5 mins. Tip the sugar, cocoa and flour into a food processor and whizz to get rid of any little clusters of sugar that are sticking together. Tip in the melted butter and eggs, and blitz to make a smooth batter.

Scoop a little of the mixture into each muffin case, then lightly press a white chocolate truffle in the centre. Spoon over the remaining mixture, making sure that the truffles are covered. Bake for 15-20 mins until the mixture has firmed up. Leave to cool.
To decorate the muffins, tip the butter and sugar into a large bowl, add the vanilla and beat with an electric hand whisk until really smooth. Thinly spread a little of the vanilla mixture over the top of the cakes to cover them, taking the icing down the sides to meet the paper case. Beat the cocoa powder into the rest of the icing, then put in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe hearts onto the top of each cake. Add a chocolate heart to decorate for the final flourish.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Makes 20-30

Ingredients:
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
400g strawberries
30g white and milk chocolate, roughly chopped (optional)

Method

Cut a strip of baking parchment and leave to one side. To melt the dark chocolate, fill a small pan with 2cm water and bring to a simmer. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and rest it on top of the pan, ensuring the bowl isn’t touching the water. Stir the chocolate to gradually melt it. Or, melt the chocolate in 20 second blasts in the microwave, stirring after each blast until melted. Put the melted chocolate in a small deep bowl.

Gently hold the strawberries by the leafy top and dip into the chocolate. Tap off any excess chocolate and put on the parchment to set. If you have any leftover chocolate, pour it onto another strip of parchment and leave it to set, it can be used again.
If you'd like to decorate the strawberries, melt the white and milk chocolate and drizzle lightly over the fruit.

Microwave Boozy Fudge

Makes 24 pieces

Ingredients:

400g golden caster sugar
397g can condensed milk
140g salted butter, chopped into pieces
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tbsp coffee liqueur (or another alcohol of your choice - amaretto or brandy works well)

Method

Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment. Put the sugar, condensed milk and butter in a large heatproof bowl (the mixture will bubble up as it cooks to roughly double its size), add a good pinch of salt and stir together.

Heat the mixture in the microwave on High for 10 mins, stirring every 2-3 mins. Keep an eye on the mixture, as it will bubble up and may go over the sides of the bowl.

Add the vanilla and liqueur to the mixture, whisk together and heat on High for another 2 mins. The mixture should be caramel-coloured and thickened. Scrape into the tin and set aside for 45 mins to 1 hr until cool and firm before cutting. Pack into a box and eat within 3 weeks.

Valentine Biscuits

Makes 16-20

Ingredients:
300g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting
200g salted butter, diced
120g golden caster sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp rosewater, or 25g/1oz freeze-dried raspberries, whizzed to a powder (optional)
red or pink food colouring

Method

Tip the flour and butter into a food processor and whizz to fine crumbs. Add the sugar and yolks then whizz to a smooth dough. Remove one-third of the dough, add vanilla to what’s left and pulse to whizz in. Wrap this dough in cling film and leave at room temperature.

Put the reserved dough back in the processor with the rosewater or dried raspberries, if using, and a drop of food colouring. Pulse and add more colouring to achieve an intense colour. If the dough has become too soft, pulse in a few spoonfuls more flour until a similar consistency to the vanilla dough. Put the dough in the fridge, remembering to remove it 30 mins before you need to roll it out.

Thickly roll out the coloured dough between baking parchment. Use a small 3-4cm heart cutter to stamp out hearts. Keep re-rolling and stamping until all the dough is used. Line up hearts on top of each other and press to form a cylinder, taking care to retain the heart shape. Wrap in cling film and freeze for 3 hrs until solid.

When the heart dough is hard, roll the vanilla dough, using your hands, into 3 cylinders the length of the heart stack. Stick one to each ‘side’ of the hearts, pat together to form a fat cylinder, then gently roll on your work surface until it completely encircles the coloured dough, with the frozen heart dough hidden in the centre. Chill for 2 hrs.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Use a sharp knife to slice the log into 1cm-thick discs. Place on trays lined with baking parchment, allowing space for spreading, and bake for 20 mins. Cool on wire racks. Will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container.