Ugly as Sin Coconut Cake

There’s this CAKE. This beautiful, gorgeous, dramatic, heart-stopper of a CAKE. I’ve been dreaming about making it for weeks (2 weeks and 2 days, to be exact): scanning the recipe online, pondering it on my drive home, lying in bed and imagining each step, right down to torching the meringue. I’ve been a little obsessed, but you’ll understand why when you see how lovely it is. Here it is in all its glory, over at Zoë Bakes. I KNOW, RIGHT?! It is stunning.

So this past Friday I gathered together all my ingredients, donned the adorable retro apron my mom made for me, and became one busy bumblebee. I left the sour cream out of the recipe accidentally, so that was my first mistake. Ever set your cake out to cool on a wire rack only to turn your head and notice an ingredient still sitting on the counter waiting to be used? Oops. It wasn’t a big deal, as it turns out, because the cake was delicious. The coconut milk added an absolutely heavenly flavor — making this one of the best white cakes I’ve ever tasted.

The filling was similarly amazing: creamy, thick coconut pastry cream folded with rich whipped cream. I knew when stacking this cake up with the delectable filling between each layer that, no matter what, I had a dessert champion on my hands.

That’s about where the success story ends. Well, maybe that’s a bit dramatic — the cake was delicious and we adored every bite. But as the title of this post suggests, my version of Zoë’s lovely cake was ugly as sin. Now, you might be thinking, “Aw, you’re being too hard on yourself; it wasn’t that ugly!” Let me clarify:

It was ugly! Lopsided, striped, U-G-L-Y-it-ain’t-got-no-alibi, UGLY. The real reason I made this cake was to achieve those beautiful burnt meringue curls that Zoë’s cake had. That clearly didn’t happen.

My meringue was runny. At first I blamed it on humidity: it rained for days in Charlotte and I was whisking the meringue up right above my steamy dishwasher. But I tried again the next day in a steam-free kitchen to no avail: same results. I’m relatively sure my bowl and whisk was free of fat or residue, so I don’t think that was a problem. My mom blames the fact that I have a hand mixer rather than a stand mixer. This could be the culprit, but I sure beat until my arm was about to fall off. Maybe the most likely possibility is that I overheated my egg white and sugar mixture. The target temperature is 110-120F, but I’m pretty sure mine was past that when I removed it to whip. I’ll have to give it another shot with a cooler mixture.

Oh well. I love pretty food, cute food, sophisticated food. Mostly, though, I love food that tastes good — and this tastes good. Fantastic, even! If you don’t want to tackle the meringue, it would even be delicious covered in some slightly sweetened whipped cream and coconut. But I hope you’ll grab your stand mixer and give the meringue a try — I know I’ll be trying it again! As you can see from Zoë’s version, it’s worth it.

Coconut Cream Cake with Toasted Meringue Frosting

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Recipe by: Zoë Bakes (coconut pastry cream, Swiss meringue) and Fine Cooking (cake), adapted by Willow Bird Baking
Yields: 9-in. 4-layer cake

Cake Ingredients:
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
13 1/2 ounces (3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature (I left this out accidentally; still worked great)
6 large egg whites, at room temperature

Coconut Pastry Cream Ingredients:
1 can (14 fluid ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
pinch kosher salt
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup whipping cream

Swiss Meringue Ingredients:
1 cup egg whites
2 cup sugar
pinch salt

Directions:
To bake the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle of the oven. Grease and line with parchment two 9×3-inch round cake pans. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Mix the coconut milk and vanilla, set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes (scrape down the bowl). Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add half the coconut milk and mix thoroughly. Continue to add the flour and coconut alternately, ending with flour. Add sour cream and mix until incorporated. Set aside in a large bowl if you don’t have a spare bowl for your mixer.

Beat the egg whites in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment (if you are using the same bowl, be sure it is VERY CLEAN or the whites will not whip up. Any fat on the bowl will prevent the whites from foaming). Beat the whites on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until it forms soft peaks. Don’t overdo it or the whites will get too stiff and not fold into the batter smoothly. Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the cake batter to lighten it. Gently fold the remaining whites into the batter.

Divide evenly in the prepared pans. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the tester comes out clean. Cool on rack in pan and then invert to use.

To make the coconut pastry cream: Heat the coconut milk, sugar, salt and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and corn starch. Once the cream is hot, remove the vanilla bean, scraping out any remaining seeds and returning them to the cream. Add 1/2 cup of the hot cream slowly to the yolks, whisking as you add. Then pour the yolk mixture into the pot of hot cream and whisk. Continue to whisk with heat on medium-high for 3 more minutes. The mixture will turn thick and bubble. You need to continue to whisk for the full 3 minutes or the pastry cream will separate once it is cool. After the 3 minutes, whisk in the butter. Add the coconut flakes. Pour into a shallow dish to cool.

Cover with plastic wrap pressed right against the pastry cream. This will prevent a thick skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate for at least an hour or freeze for 30 minutes. Once it is cold, stir the pastry cream to loosen. Whip the 1/2 cup cream to medium peaks. Stir in 1/3 to the pastry cream to lighten. Fold in the remaining cream until the pastry cream is nice and light. Split the two cakes in half with a knife and add 1/3 of the filling to the first cake layer. Spread it out to the edge and repeat with the other layers.

To make the Swiss Meringue: Whisk together the egg whites, sugar and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Rest the bowl over a pot of simmering water to form a double boiler. Scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all the sugar is off the sides of the bowl. Continue to stir the mixture until all the sugar is melted into the eggs and you no longer feel any graininess when rubbed between your fingers, about 3-5 minutes.

Place the bowl onto your mixer and whisk on high speed until the meringue is thick and glossy and the bowl is just warmer than room temperature, about 8 minutes. Using a spatula, spread a nice thick layer of the meringue over the cake, make sure you have at least a cup of meringue left. Don’t worry about how it looks, you will be making spikes over the surface in a minute.

Take a glob of the meringue in your hand and press it against the meringue on the cake (Zoë has a great photo tutorial of this part on her blog). Pull that glob away from the cake and it will break off in a wispy curl. The more of a glob you lay down as a foundation on the cake, the bigger your curls will be. This may take a few times to get the hang of it, but then you’ll be off and running. Once you have the cake fully set with curls you will need a torch to toast the meringue. Hold the blow torch a ways from the cake and touch the flame down between the curls. The curls will set fire and you need to blow them out as you go. The burnt tips are lovely contrast and add a wonderful flavor.

Cake mixed, baked, and sliced into four layers.



Coconut pastry cream cooling and then spread onto a cake layer.



Cooking my Swiss meringue and preparing the cake for frosting!


Enjoy!

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Strawberry Walnut Ricotta Muffins

I’m detecting a pattern here: something about cold weather makes me want a big, hot breakfast. Usually my breakfast is a small, rushed affair: a couple of turkey sausages and I’m on my way. This weekend, though, promised inches of snow and icy conditions in Charlotte. Breakfast had to stand up to the cold!

Thankfully, Smitten Kitchen had recently equipped me with a killer muffin recipe. Deb posted these fantastic-looking Ricotta Muffins last week. They were billed as a very slightly sweet, nutty muffin with a surprising hint of fennel. Very intriguing, but I fiddled with the idea a bit to produce more what I was craving. I ditched the fennel, sweetened these babies up a bit, and added in some fresh strawberries. The result is really a whole different beast: sweet, fruity, light, cheesy, nutty, hearty . . . a breakfast superstar!

…but a beast, nonetheless. These things are fussy. The ricotta and sour cream filling is runny (as Deb mentions in her post, perhaps it’d be different if you were to use fresh ricotta and crème fraiche), so the batter has to be piped on top of it, which is quite a mess.

The muffins are also very tender (what with the ricotta mixture in the middle, as well as strawberries breaking up the muffin, in my case) and so they can’t be scooped out of their wells. Instead, I had to let them cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before inverting them onto the cooling rack. They cooled with their cute little muffin bottoms in the air, and finally, they were firm enough to turn over and stick in the fridge. My kitchen was a disaster area — bowls, beaters, pans, cutting boards, berries — but I wouldn’t be writing this if they weren’t worth it.

Like so many fruity baked goods, these were amazing after being refrigerated overnight. Wonderful news, because you probably don’t want to spend the time and effort required to make these first thing in the morning. I popped them into the microwave for 30 seconds before Mike and I managed to devour, oh, 11 of them. Full disclosure! The two of us ate ELEVEN MUFFINS! I told you they were worth the trouble. The ricotta makes for a fluffy, moist, gooey muffin, and the strawberries were lovely with the tang from the yogurt and sour cream. They weren’t too sweet — perfect for breakfast (though who am I kidding . . . I can definitely do dessert for breakfast on occasion).

Muffins freeze well, too, so why not make a double batch and freeze up a few for later? I actually intended to do just that (my double batch made 27 muffins), but at the rate Mike and I are going . . . yeah, we’ll see how many of these make it to the freezer! I hope you’re enjoying some hearty, warm breakfasts of your own this winter (and for all my friends enjoying summer across the globe right now, run through a sprinkler or two for me!)

Strawberry Walnut Ricotta Muffins

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Recipe by: Pastries from La Brea Bakery (adapted by Smitten Kitchen, and then by Willow Bird Baking)
Yields: 12-14 muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (2 ounces) walnuts (can substitute pecans)
3 cups unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup (4 ounces) ricotta cheese
6 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 1/4 cup chopped strawberries
Kosher salt, to taste

Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 1/2-cup capacity muffin tin (I used Cake Release. Butter and flouring the tin will also work. Make sure that when you invert the pans, these babies are going to come out!)

Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Shake the pan halfway through to ensure that the nuts toast evenly. Cool, chop finely and set aside. Turn the oven up to 350°F.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together to combine. Make a large well in the center and pour in the yogurt and oil. Whisk together the liquids and gradually draw in the the dry ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Fold in chopped strawberries.

To prepare the filling: Place the ricotta in a mixing bowl and, if stiff, break it up wtih a rubber spatula to loosen. Stir in the sour cream or crème fraîche, confectioners’ sugar, and a pinch of salt.

Using a pastry or plastic bag with the corner cut off, fill each muffin tin one-third of the way with batter. Place one tablespoon of the ricotta filling into the center of each muffin. Pipe the remaining batter into the cups, filling them to just below the rim (resist the urge to overfill). Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of the nuts over the top of each muffin.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly brown and firm to the touch. Let cool in pan for about 15-20 minutes before inverting over a cooling rack. Let cool upside down. When completely cool, refrigerate in an airtight container until it’s time to eat! Heat for a few seconds in the microwave before eating.

Mixing up the batter and some overfilled muffins fresh from the oven.


Cooling off upside down, and then getting packed up for the fridge.


See that snow in the background? Brrr!

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Nanaimo Bars

You know those commercials where a thin, statuesque model takes a bite of chocolate and all her troubles melt away (usually dramatized by a fancy silk sheet blowing through the scene)? Let’s briefly ignore the physical ironies and textiles, because I have great news: that kind of trouble-melting food does exist! It’s a Nanaimo Bar! Who knew?

The folks in Nanaimo probably did. Nanaimo (pronounced nuh-NYE-moh) is a beautiful town on Vancouver Island famous for a very sweet treat. Local folklore says that around 35 years ago, a woman from Nanaimo entered her bars into a competition, naming them after the city. They were a sensation, and the Nanaimo Bar was born.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

I love Lauren — her blog is full of delicious recipes and lovely photos. If you haven’t already checked out Celiac Teen, you should — especially if you’re looking for gluten-free goodness!

Nanaimo Bars sound to me like the result of one of those urges (do you ever get these? I do.) to combine as many amazing-tasting things as possible into one dish, and then eat yourself silly. They have a thick, indulgent bottom layer of chocolate-bound pecans, coconut, and crushed graham crackers.

Not just any graham crackers, mind you! We’re daring bakers after all, so we have to add a little oomph. They were homemade graham crackers in this case — yeah, that’s how we roll! No, literally . . . I was rolling, rolling, rolling out dough into the night to bake up my stack of golden crackers. The crisp, fresh, mild crackers were worth the effort, though, and I can’t wait to use the leftovers to make s’mores this weekend! Lauren provides a recipe below for gluten-free graham crackers, which I would’ve loved to make, but I settled for the wheat version this time around due to flour costs. If you’re in a hurry, use some store-bought graham crackers in your Nanaimo Bars. The result will be just as delicious.

The other two layers of a Nanaimo Bar are similarly heavenly. A middle layer of rich vanilla custard balances the chocolate overload, and a thin layer of hardened chocolate on top completes the bar. Each bite has a little crunch, a little cream, and a LOT of sweet, rich, chocolatey goodness.

Graham Crackers

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Recipe by: 101 Cookbooks and GF adaptations by Celiac Teen
Yields: varies depending on size of crackers (~10 large)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour*
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup honey (mild-flavored, such as clover)
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

*For gluten-free graham crackers, substitute the following flours for the all-purpose flour (and beware that no cross-contamination occurs):
1 cup sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour; plus more for dusting)
3/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour

Baking time will increase to around 25 minutes with these adjustments.

Nanaimo Bars

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Recipe by: City of Nanaimo
Yields: About 13-14 bars depending on size

Bottom Layer Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (see recipe above)
1/2 cup almonds (finely chopped) *I used pecans here.
1 cup coconut (shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons vanilla custard powder or vanilla pudding mix
2 cups icing or confectioners’ sugar

Top Layer Ingredients:
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:
1. For bottom layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For middle layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For top layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.


A few tips from Willow Bird Baking: Line your pan with parchment paper (not wax, which may melt onto the warm bottom layer) for a quick and easy removal. As opposed to trying to scoop bars out of the pan (we all know how that goes), you’ll be able to pull them out and cut them neatly on a cutting board.

Use white chocolate or white candy melt to create a marbling effect. Pipe on thin stripes and, while still wet, drag a clean toothpick through the stripes in different directions. Wipe toothpick between each “drag.”

Preparing graham crackers.


Assembling Nanaimo Bars and marbling the top layer.


Top marbled, and then Nanimo Bars all chilled and ready to eat!


Enjoy!

Check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see other fantastic Nanaimo Bars!

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Valentine’s Truffle Heart

Sometimes I ask Mike to carry my dog down three flights of stairs only to have her patently refuse to piddle in the freezing cold. Sometimes I ask Mike if he will please clean the inevitable piddle on the carpet in the corner. Every now and then, I ask Mike if he will help scrub the pile of dirty dishes that have built up while I’ve been barricaded in my room grading. And periodically, I’ll admit, I ask Mike to do the acrobatics necessary to feed my handsome humblebee of a (sharp-clawed) turtle.

Mike’s a good guy. He’s a GREAT guy.

The least I can do is fuss over him a bit, especially on holidays. I love making a big impressive feast for his birthday, our anniversary . . . and Valentine’s Day. Oh, are you one of those Valentine’s Day haters? Eschewing the greeting card industry, scoffing at the idea of commercialized love, decrying the superficiality of a Necco®-hearts-based love-fest? I’m not. True, we don’t have a fancy celebration, but Mike and I do value the day for what it is: an excuse to love on each other through small gifts, thoughtful gestures, and food. That’s right . . . it’s an excuse to EAT. An excuse to eat cake truffles!

In case you’re hunting for sweet food ideas for your sweetheart, I thought I’d share with you the fun gift I made for Mike last year: a heart-shaped box filled not with candy, but with Red Velvet Cake Truffles and Oreo Truffles. Apart from being indulgent, rich, moist, and delicious, the truffles were a personal, handmade gift — always the best kind! This Valentine’s Day present was a sweet treat for my students, too, since they got to eat the original candy from the heart-shaped box.

Can you find Byrd in the background?

I have a few ideas jangling around for this Valentine’s Day, but they’re top secret for now! What about you? What fun meal or treat are you planning for the people you love?

Red Velvet Cake Truffles / Cake Balls

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Recipe by:

-Bakerella (truffles)
- Mom (cake)
- Paula Deen (frosting)

Yields: about 50 balls.

Cake Truffle Ingredients:
1 9 x 13 in. Red Velvet Cake (see recipe below)
About 1.5 – 2 cups cream cheese frosting (see recipe below)
White chocolate bark / White candy coating (not baker’s chocolate)

Cake Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 ounces red food coloring

Frosting Ingredients:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Directions:
For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream Crisco, sugar, and eggs. Make a paste of the cocoa and coloring and add to the Crisco mixture. Add salt and vanilla. Add buttermilk alternately with the flour, beginning and ending with flour. Mix vinegar and soda right before using and add to mixture by folding in. Pour batter into a 9 x 13 in. pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely.

For the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

For the cake balls:
1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can (about 1.5-2 cups) cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

The hardest part of this is definitely the dipping. If you use white candy coating like I did (Candyquik), be prepared to double dip them to get them nice and white. After heating the white coating, I sat its bowl in a larger bowl of hot water to keep it melted. I then held the cake ball on a toothpick and spooned the white coating over it. To prevent the cake ball from having a huge “foot” from puddling coating, you have to let the excess drip off for quite awhile before wiggling it off the toothpick onto the wax paper. You find a groove. Eventually. The chocolate drizzle was applied with a ziplock bag that had the tiniest bit of its bottom corner cut off.

I only used half of my red velvet cake for the cake balls. With the leftovers, I made a little heart-shaped cake. You could also freeze any you didn’t want to use immediately for future cake ball exploits!

Oreo Truffles

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Recipe By: Bakerella
Yields: about 36 truffles.

Ingredients:
1 package oreo cookies (divided… use cookie including the cream center)
1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)
white chocolate bark

Directions:

1. Finely crush 7 cookies in a food processor or place them in a ziploc bag and crush into a fine consistency. Reserve for later (Julie note: I skipped this part)
2. Crush remaining cookies and stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together.
3. Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. You can sprinkle the tops with the 7 crushed cookies for decoration. (I usually eat mine before they make it to this stage.)
5. Once dry, refrigerate and enjoy!

I used the chocolate candy coating (Candyquik) for this. Once again, the white drizzle was applied with a ziplock bag that had the tiniest bit of its bottom corner cut off.

Mixing and forming red velvet cake truffles.


Red velvet truffles dipped and drying; oreos being crushed (a food processor makes this even easier).


Forming oreo truffles.


The finished (personalized!) present.

Need some other Valentine’s Day ideas? How about Red Velvet and Oreo Kisses? Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Hearts? Fancy French macarons? A dozen Mango Raspberry Rosecakes? Take a look at the Recipe Index for more ideas.

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