Galentine’s Brunch

February 9, 2020February 9, 2020 ~ Angela ~ 3 Comments

I was seriously just going to Target to get toilet paper and a few groceries. You all know though, you never leave Target with ONLY the things you went there to buy…

They had the CUTEST brunch supplies in the Bullseye’s Playground/Dollar Spot area at the front of the store. Valentine themed champagne flutes and pitchers, pretty pink cake stands, this awesome white platter that says “Let’s Do Brunch.” So I did what any normal person would do… I bought all 7 boxes of the champagne flutes and a bunch of other stuff, and then decided to have a party so I could use it all. Reverse planning?

I’m lucky to have a lot of wonderful women in my life: friends I have had for decades, (non-legal) sisters-in-law, co-workers who make going to work FUN! I thought that the perfect way to put my Target haul to use would be to throw a Galentine’s Brunch to show these lovely ladies some appreciation for the joy they bring into my life.

I kept things easy by ordering catering from Panera (their breakfast souffles are SO good), and making a Valentine’s treat themed charcuterie board. The board was filled with Pepperidge Farm cookies, Raspberry Creme Kit Kats, Valentine Ding Dongs, Sugarfina Bubbly Bear gummies, Hershey’s Kisses, Lindt Truffles, marcona almonds, candied pecans and raspberries. I used another cute platter from Target for strawberries and grapes, and then put macarons from Dana’s Bakery and PEEPS Vanilla Creme Hearts on the cake stand.

Shake Bake and Party | Valentine’s Charcuterie Board

Shake Bake and Party | Galentine’s Brunch

galentines1-01 — Shake Bake and Party | Galentine’s Treats on Cake Stand

Obviously, the most important part of any brunch is the mimosas! I had a make your own mimosa bar, with orange, orange mango and pomegranate juices. I also had some Jackson Morgan Southern Bread Pudding and Chocolate Therapy (chocolate wine!) from Laurita Winery on hand in case anyone wanted a shot of something sweet! On top of all that, some gifted Red Velvet Bailey’s and wine finished off the libations.

galentines3-01 — Shake Bake and Party Mimosa Bar

galentines2-01 — Target Valentine Champagne Flutes and Champagne Bottle Balloon

20200208_104846-01 — Target Let’s do Brunch platter

I decorated with some balloons and a cute little heart banner I picked up at the Christmas Tree Shops. I found the neon “Love” sign at Kohl’s, and adorable candle that says “You’re like really pretty” candle was another Target find!

The most fun part was the photo “booth” I created by hanging gold and rose gold foil fringe curtains in front of my kitchen sliding door. I had a bunch of Valentine’s headbands and glasses plus Galentine’s themed photo props for everyone to use (#friesbeforeguys).

You can’t have a party without great music, so I put together an amazing playlist full of songs from my favorite female artists.

Finally, as a little parting gift, everyone got to choose an Anne Taintor sticky note pad or magnet and a Cheryl ‘s buttercream frosted heart shaped cookie!

I’m thinking of making this an annual event! If you have any fun Galentine’s Party ideas, let me know in the comments so I can start planning for next year!

Valentine Cookies 2015

February 13, 2015February 12, 2015 ~ Angela ~ 6 Comments

Even if you hate Valentine’s Day you still love cookies, right? Here’s this year’s batch!

Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Strawberry Fluff Filling

February 10, 2015February 9, 2015 ~ Angela ~ 7 Comments

I’m back, and I brought more Strawberry Fluff! I think I might ask it to be my Valentine.

We could go for long walks on the beach, have picnics in the park, or snuggle up on the couch for a Netflix binge-fest. The only thing that would come between us would be a spoon… Or I could just fill some Devil’s Food cupcakes with it and then top them off with some Godiva Chocolate Liqueur spiked butter cream frosting.

Yup. Had to throw some booze in there. What says “Will you be my Valentine?” better than some Godiva chocolate? Ok, maybe some sparkly jewlery, but you can’t eat that with Strawberry Fluff.

To make these, bake a batch of your favorite Devil’s Food cupcakes. I used the Pillsbury box mix, which made 18 appropriately sized cupcakes (ahem, Pillsbury). After the cupcakes have cooled use a cupcake corer or a knife to remove a section from the center of each cupcake. Next comes the Strawberry Fluff Cream Filling.

Strawberry Fluff Cream Filling (adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes)

1-7.5 oz jar of Marshmallow Strawberry Fluff
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

In a large bowl, whisk the marshmallow cream and butter until smooth. Transfer into pastry bag and squeeze into the center of each cupcake. You can push the bits you removed back into the top or you can just eat them. : ) Now it’s time for the frosting!

Godiva Chocolate Liqueur Butter Cream (adapted from Butter Cream Frosting II on allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
3 tablespoons cocoa powder

Cream butter and shortening in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add all other ingredients and beat until well combined. Luckily for Pillsbury this recipe makes just enough frosting for 18 cupcakes. I like a lot of icing on my cupcakes, so you may be able to stretch this to cover 24 cupcakes depending on your frosting technique.

I topped these off with a strawberry marshmallow heart but you can decorate them any way you wish!

What’s your favorite cupcake filling? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Valentine’s Day Fluffernutter

February 9, 2015February 9, 2015 ~ Angela ~ 2 Comments

Did you know that STRAWBERRY Marshmallow Fluff existed? I had no idea until I saw it in the World Market section at Bed Bath and Beyond the other day. I immediately grabbed a jar off the shelf.

I wish I hadn’t.

I wish….

…that I had grabbed three or four! It’s SO GOOD!! You know the first thing I had to do was make a fluffernutter sandwich, right? Did you grow up on these things too? Gooey marshmallow and peanut butter slathered onto good old white bread. I could have eaten one every day for lunch and never gotten tired of it.

Of course, I had to take it up a notch. We are talking about STRAWBERRY Fluff, people. And what goes with strawberry?? That’s right – chocolate!

It’s Monday morning, and I’m pretty sure that you know how to make a sandwich so I am going to spare you the directions. Strawberry Fluff, your favorite chocolate nut spread (I used Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams but I am thinking Nutella would be AWESOME with this) and white bread are all you need to make this fun Valentine’s Day treat.

The kids will love this and so will you because strawberry and chocolate, that’s why. Now pardon me while I go continue eating this Strawberry Fluff straight out of the jar.

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

February 5, 2015February 4, 2015 ~ Angela ~ 3 Comments

‘Tis the season for all things red and pink so I’ve hopped onto the bandwagon and made you some strawberries and cream cupcakes!

Even if you don’t like Valentine’s Day you’ll be sure to fall in love with these cupcakes. Sweet strawberry cupcakes, frosting made with heavy cream AND a strawberries and cream truffle stuffed into the center? Good stuff.

These cupcakes are really easy to make! Bake up a batch of your favorite strawberry cupcakes (I used a boxed mix) and a minute or two after you take them out of the oven unwrap a truffle and just push it down through the top of the cupcake. I used Lindt Lindor Strawberries and Cream truffles but you could use white, milk or dark chocolate truffles too. Any kind of chocolate + strawberries = yum. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost them with this:

Butter Cream Frosting (adapted from Butter Cream Frosting II on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

Cream butter and shortening in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add all other ingredients and beat well.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2013February 13, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 1 Comment

Whether eagerly anticipated or downright dreaded, I hope you all have a very happy Valentine’s Day!!

I’m Hearing Voices…

February 12, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 6 Comments

My cookies are talking to me, and they’re not just whispering “Eat Me….” like they normally do.

These were inspired by a cookie pop from The Decorated Cookie that I saw on Pinterest. They are adorable – cookie heart pops covered in crushed conversation heart candies (click here to see what I’m talking about!). Since I love cookies AND conversation hearts I decided that I definitely wanted to make them.

There was just one problem…

I could not crush the stupid candy hearts!! True, I have NEVER been a heartbreaker but this was just ridiculous.

I started off by putting the hearts in a ziploc bag and giving them a few whacks with my meat tenderizing mallet. Nothing happened. I hit them harder. STILL nothing. Fearing I would wake my sleeping boyfriend, I took them out onto my back porch and beat the crap out of them. I managed to break three or four, but the rest were still intact – sappy messages and all.

Apparently the creator of these cookies had superhuman strength, or maybe just a really good food processor. I was afraid if I tried to chop them in mine that I would somehow break it, so I just gave up and decided to put one whole heart on each cookie instead.

So they didn’t turn out exactly as I had intended, but I still think they’re pretty cute and I just love the little burst of flavor you get when you eat the section with the candy on it. I think these would make pretty cute Valentine’s gifts, don’t you?

Roses are Red, Violets are Violet

February 9, 2013 ~ Angela ~ 9 Comments

Seriously. Violets aren’t blue. They are purple. Maybe a bluish purple, but purple nonetheless. Just had to get that off my chest.

Anywho, it’s almost Valentine’s Day!

I happen to have received my Valentine’s gift a little early this year in the form of a fabulous new Coach purse. I picked it out from the online outlet, boyfriend ordered it before it sold out as these things tend to do. We had to open the box when it arrived two weeks ago to make sure I actually liked it (of course I did – I’m the one that picked it out!), and then somehow my wallet, keys and phone sort of just fell into it and I have been using it ever since. After 8 years, we are at the stage of “Just tell me what you want for Valentine’s Day and that’s what you’ll get” and it usually ends up being something practical, but slightly expensive: Coach purse for me, WeatherTech floor liners for him (they came early too).

So there is never much mystery surrounding V-Day anymore. However, two years ago I received something that not only surprised me, but cemented the fact in my mind that the boyfriend and I are meant to be:

What is so special about a silly sock monkey card?

This is the card I got him:

Oooooh weeeeeee oooooooh.

The thing is, neither of us has any kind of sock monkey obsession. So the fact that we both picked out the same card (from two different stores) from the hundreds available has to be an indicator of some serious cosmic connection, right? Or maybe just the fact that we’ve lived together too long. Either way, I found it amusing.

I thought it would be cute to make sock monkey cookies for Valentine’s Day, but I don’t have that much faith in my talents yet so I just stuck to hearts.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received for Valentine’s day? Or do you just despise the whole thing? If so, you might actually enjoy these “stalker” conversation heart cookies I made for a friend last year…