Monday, February 6, 2012

Virtual Valentine’s Day Party: Have Your Cake (and Cookies) and Eat It, Too!

by Darla

I am so excited to be celebrating Valentine’s Day today with some of my very favorite bloggers! Miss Shelly, the funny and super creative lady behind Cookies and Cups was so sweet to organize this little virtual get together, and I’m thrilled and honored to be partying with such talented women.

I’ve always liked Valentine’s Day. I love love. We’ve never been big Valentine’s Day celebrators in my house, but I still love it. Our Valentines are always homemade…homemade cards, homemade gifts. Usually, I make food. Surprised?

When I was a little girl, the Valentine’s Day party at school was always one of my favorite days of the year. It wasn’t the candy, although that was great, and it wasn’t the Valentines, per se. I just loved that, on that day, everybody was loved. Everybody got a little card that said something nice from everybody else in class. Seriously, what could be better than that? School can be tough. Kids can be mean. But for at least one day, every year, every kid was just as included as every other kid. Even then, I knew that was something worth celebrating.

I never felt like I had to have a boyfriend or a date for every, single Valentine’s Day, either. It all went back to the same idea that everyone was special on Valentine’s Day, so I was just as happy hanging out with my girls, as I was going on a date. We’d all get dressed up in red and pink and sparklyness, or we’d throw on goofy headbands with bobbly hearts, and we would do something fun for the girls. I’m not gonna lie, once it was to go to a romantic movie and playfully heckle the couples. But it was all in good fun.

That’s why I’m so happy to be celebrating with my bloggie girls today! I’m not going to be spending Valentine’s Day with the Hubster this year, so I’m partying hardy with the girls, just like old times. :) So be sure to click through all of the links at the end of the post and check out the amazing Valentine lovliness that my friends have created today. :)

When I got Shelly’s invite, I knew right away what I wanted to share. I knew I didn’t want to settle for just cake, or candy, or cookies; it’s Valentine time, it just had to be all three, or nothing at all. How to manage this, you ask? Easy: fill some cookies with frosting laden caky goodness, dip them in yummy candy melts, and cover them in sprinkles. Then, put ‘em on a stick. Cause treats on a stick are just fun.

Just like I did at Halloween, I found some seriously cute stamps at Michaels for a dollar each. They were seriously too cute to pass up, and I knew when i saw them that they would be used with this recipe, somehow some way!

This time, I decided to use the stamps directly on the cookie dough, rather than on fondant, like last time. I proceeded to color, roll out, cut, and stamp all of my sugar cookies with them.

On some, I used the cute images and shapes, while others got sweet Valentine messages, like “be mine.”

This one was my favorite. :) A cute little Eiffel Tower with “I love you” in French: je t’aime. It turned out so sweet!

Once the cookies were cooled, I placed some cake mixture (the same stuff that cake bites are made of) on half of the cookies. Next, I spread the mixture out so that it covered the cookie evenly. Finally, I added another cookie on top to turn these into the best sandwiches ever.

The only trouble I ran into with these cookies, was while using the stamps on them; some of them really lost their stamp shapes while baking. All of the ones with images did very well, and held their shapes, but the ones with letters ended up basically looking like blank cookies. But it was okay, because I had intended to use colors on them anyway, so I broke out my food writers and proceeded to color the stamps, then stamp the cookies. I used the impressions from before as guides, and they all turned out great.

Next up, it was time to add the candy. I decided to dip the edges of the sandwiches in candy melts to seal in the cake filling, while also providing the much needed Valentine’s Day candy. For the tops of the cookies, since I did hearts, I had to spoon a little candy into the point in the center, then I was able to dip the sides of the cookies into the candy easily.

I dressed my cookies up with more candy, in the form of fun sprinkles.

Sprinkles make everything better. :)

Once the cookie’s sides are completely dipped, tap them gently to remove excess candy, add a lollipop stick, and sprinkle away! The more, the merrier. Of course. :)

The sweet French cookie is still my very favorite, but I adore how all of them turned out.

And they tasted absolutely wonderful! Never again will I have to choose one treat for Valentine’s Day. I can have cake, cookies, and candy…all in one fantastic little dessert. Heaven!

These were super fast and easy, even though they seem pretty involved and time consuming. There’s just a lot of wait times to get through with baking, chilling, and setting up, but otherwise, these are as easy as 1-2-3. And if you want to save even more time, you can use cake mix, store bought frosting, and refrigerated cookie dough! Yay for easy! Plus, they’re super fun for the kiddos to help with. Happy Valentine’s Day and enjoy!

Cake-filled Cookies
Makes 2 to 3 dozen sandwich cookies, depending on size

Ingredients

1 9×13-inch cake, flavor of your choice

16 ounces frosting, flavor of your choice

1 recipe rolled sugar cookies

Candy melts

Sprinkles

Food Writers  for stamping, optional

Instructions:

Bake the cake as directed and let it cool completely.

Make the frosting as directed and set aside.

Bake the cookies as directed in the recipe above, cutting out shapes, as desired. I made these slightly thinner than usual, since they’re going to be sandwich cookies. Let cool completely.

Once the cake is cooled, break it up by hand, or with a food processor, until it is just crumbs. Stir in the frosting until thoroughly combined.

Place half of the cooled cookies, bottom side up, on a cooling rack or baking sheet. Place 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the cake mixture on each of the cookies. Using clean hands, press the cake mixture until it fills the entire cookie evenly. Place another cookie, right side up, on top of the cake mixture to create a sandwich. Once all of the sandwiches are done, place them in the refrigerator to chill fro about 30 to 45 minutes, or freeze for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the freezer and dip the edges of the cookies in melted candy melts. You may need to use a spoon to fill in any gaps. Tap off excess candy gently, add sprinkles, and a lollipop stick, if desired. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat mat, and allow them to set up completely before serving.

Recipe by Darla

Now it’s time to PARTAY! Don’t forget to visit all of the other incredible Valentine’s Day treats from my talented friends! You can find a preview of each of their creations, as well as links to them below. You have to check them out; they’re gorgeous! ~xoxo

1. Confessions of a Cookbook Queen  ~ Valentines Twinkies on a Stick
2. Buns in My Oven ~ Hot Fudge and Strawberry Donut Pudding
3. Glorious Treats ~ Red Velvet Cupcakes
4. Cookies and Cups ~ Glass Topper Valentines Cookies
5. Bakingdom ~ Valentines Day Cookie Cakes
6. The Hungry Housewife ~ Valentines Jello Hearts
7. Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle ~ Valentines Dotty Cookies
8. Sprinkle Bakes ~ Red Velvet Cake Minis
9. Bake at 350 ~ Double-Decker, Stripey, Valentine Cookies
10. Two Peas and Their Pod ~ Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
11. Scarletta Bakes ~ Mexican Chocolate Hearts
12. She Wears Many Hats ~ Valentines Popcorn

Tagged as: Cake, Cake bites, Candy, Chocolate, Cookie Pops, Cookies, Holidays, Recipes, Sugar Cookies, Valentine's Day

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