Experts explain how to wow with cookies, candy and cupcakes for your Valentine — or yourself
Make your Valentine’s Day a little sweeter with homemade goodies as local bakers share their secrets for jazzing up sugar cookies, getting creative with cupcakes and going fancy with chocolates.
For the chocoholics
Ideas beyond the traditional heart-shaped box
By Matt Ingersoll
From chocolate-dipped strawberries to homemade truffles and breakable chocolate hearts, here are some sweet ideas for chocolate-y treats you can try out at home this Valentine’s Day.
Chocolate-dipped strawberries
One of the most common treats associated with Valentine’s Day, the chocolate-dipped strawberry is easy to create at home — the key is which type of chocolate to use, said Emilee Viaud, pastry chef and owner of Sweet Treats by Emilee, a home baker based in Milford.
“Baker’s chocolate is what you want to use. You can find it in the baking aisle at the grocery store,” Viaud said. “The top two brands are Baker’s and Ghirardelli, and those can come in a bag or as a bar. … There are options, [like] unsweetened, semi-sweet and bittersweet, and they are based off of the amount of cacao that’s in them. I recommend using semi-sweet for the strawberries, because it kind of gives it a little bit of sweetness and it’s not super bitter.”
Viaud recommends about five ounces of chocolate per pound of strawberries. The fruit itself should be bought fresh, washed, dried and kept at room temperature, never frozen.
“Dryness is super important, because water and chocolate do not mix,” she said.
Inserting a toothpick into the top of the fruit can make it a useful tool for dipping, or you can twist the leaves a bit to turn them into a sturdy handle and prevent them from breaking.
To melt the baker’s chocolate, the easiest way is to just pop it into the microwave. Viaud recommends starting with the smallest size possible, cutting it up or breaking it with your fingers, placing it in a bowl and heating for 30-second increments, stirring after each.
After it’s melted, dipping the strawberries into the chocolate works best when you use the smallest bowl you can, so that you have a deeper level to work with.
“You don’t want a big wide bowl. You want to be able to have at least two to three inches of chocolate so that you can dip the strawberry in,” Viaud said. “You can choose to dip them halfway or all the way up to the leaves, and then you basically just shake the strawberry five or six times to let off all that excess chocolate. … Then you want to place it on parchment paper on a plate or something. Tin foil will not work because it will stick.”
Placing the fruit into the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes after it’s dipped will cause the chocolate to harden. For extra flavor, you can roll them in anything from peanuts or hazelnuts to toasted coconut pieces, chocolate sprinkles or a white chocolate drizzle.
Ashley Reisdorf of Ashley’s Eats & Sweets, based in Raymond, said she has worked with alcohol-infused chocolate-dipped strawberries — a batch she made a few years ago, for instance, featured strawberries infused with Grey Goose vodka using pipettes.
“You poke a hole in the top of the strawberries by the stems with a toothpick, and then stick a pipette of the alcohol in the hole and squeeze it in right before you eat it,” she said.
Homemade truffles
Truffles are also very easy to make because they only require two ingredients — chocolate and heavy cream. Butter is also an optional ingredient to give them an added creaminess, or you can incorporate an extract like vanilla, raspberry, orange, peppermint or coconut for more flavor.
Like with the strawberries, Viaud said she recommends using baker’s chocolate for truffles. About eight ounces of chocolate and two-thirds of a cup of heavy cream would yield 20 tablespoon-sized truffle balls. If you’re using butter and extract, she said, one tablespoon of butter at room temperature and half a teaspoon of extract would be enough for that same amount.
Truffles require creating a ganache, achieved by heating the heavy cream in a pot on the stove until it simmers, or just until you see bubbles. The chocolate should be finely chopped.
“You don’t want to boil it. You just want to make it simmer,” Viaud said. “You’re going to have that chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. You want to add the butter to that bowl of chocolate and then, once the heavy cream comes to a simmer, you’re going to pour that hot cream over the chocolate. … Then, the most important thing is to let it sit and not touch it.”
Allowing the pot to sit for about five minutes will allow the heavy cream to incorporate and melt the chocolate. If you’re using an extract, this is when you’ll add that in next, Viaud said.
“You can mix it in using a whisk, which will help incorporate the liquid into the melted chocolate,” she said. “Then it will come together and basically look like a chocolate hot sauce.”
Once you have your chocolate hot sauce, placing it in the refrigerator for one to two hours will cause it to harden. Viaud recommends covering it with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap down so that it touches the top of the chocolate in the bowl and prevents moisture.
After that time in the refrigerator has passed, the chocolate should become moldable, allowing you to scoop it out and roll into balls using your hands. If the ganache is too sticky, you can use gloves or lightly coat your hands in cocoa powder to help produce smooth truffle balls.
If your truffles have other ingredients like coconut pieces, peanuts or hazelnuts, they should be rolled a second time at room temperature to help them stick. Placing them back into the refrigerator afterward for an additional 30 minutes will then allow them to be fully incorporated.
Cocoa bombs and breakable chocolate hearts
While a bit more involved than truffles or chocolate-dipped strawberries, cocoa bombs are great to enjoy on a cold winter night. Pouring hot milk or water over these hollow balls of chocolate, which are usually filled with flavored cocoa mixes, miniature marshmallows or any other ingredient you want to put in them, causes them to “explode” with flavor inside your mug.
Viaud, who began making her own cocoa bombs in late 2020, now offers all kinds of flavors from traditional milk, dark or white to peanut butter, salted caramel and more.
The traditional round appearance of cocoa bombs is achieved using half sphere-shaped silicone molds, which are available in most big box or craft stores in all shapes and sizes. Unlike for the strawberries or truffles, Viaud recommends using coating chocolate.
“You can really use any type you want, but for cocoa bombs, because you’re molding them and keeping a sphere shape, you really want to use a chocolate that is durable,” she said. “[Coating chocolate] is made with ingredients that help keep it stable and give it that nice shine. … Ghrirardelli has coating chocolate at the grocery store, or melting wafers, is what they call it.”
Melting the chocolate can similarly be done by placing it in the microwave and stirring at 30-second increments. Viaud recommends pouring just about a teaspoon into each individual mold and using a spoon to coat its entire inside. Placing it in the refrigerator for about five minutes and repeating that process a second time will cause your molds to harden well.
“I think that’s the step that a lot of people don’t do, and then their chocolate breaks,” Viaud said. “So it’s important that you repeat that process to get a really thick shell.”
Once it’s completely hardened, you can remove the shells from the mold — the best way to do that is to gently push them out from the bottom with your finger or thumb, as the edges would break most easily, Viaud said. Two half sphere molds equal one cocoa bomb, and heating a saute pan over the stove on low heat will ensure smoother spheres. This is also when any flavorings such as cocoa mixes or marshmallows get added into your bombs.
“You take the edges and quickly put them on the hot pan to melt the chocolate and make it smooth, so that they come together easily,” she said. “You have to have the right pressure, because if you push down too hard, you’ve melted half of it. … So it’s really about having the right touch to know exactly how much of that sphere to melt.”
The chocolate then eventually cools at room temperature, the half sphere molds “glued” together.
If you have heart-shaped molds, you can make breakable chocolate hearts, a process very similar to the cocoa bombs. The difference, Viaud said, is you can fill them with any small candy you want, from M&Ms or Hershey’s kisses to jelly beans or conversation hearts.
“You can use the back of a spoon to kind of crack it open,” she said.
If you’d rather let the experts handle everything this Valentine’s Day, check out this list of local candy and chocolate shops, home bakers and other businesses offering special chocolate treats.
• Candy Kingdom (235 Harvard St., Manchester, 641-8470, candykingdom.shop) takes special orders for chocolate-dipped strawberries, and also offers treats like chocolate red-foiled hearts and assorted heart-shaped boxes of chocolates.
• Dancing Lion Chocolate (917 Elm St., Manchester, 625-4043, dancinglion.us) has various bars, boxes, drinking chocolate sets and other items that can make great Valentine’s Day gifts.
• Granite State Candy Shoppe (13 Warren St., Concord, 225-2591; 832 Elm St., Manchester, 218-3885; granitestatecandyshoppe.com) is offering a variety of specialty chocolates and candies for Valentine’s Day, like milk, white or dark chocolate heart boxes, Valentine malt balls, chocolate-dipped strawberries and more.
• Loon Chocolate (252 Willow St., Manchester, loonchocolate.com) just opened a new retail shop inside The Factory on Willow on Feb. 5, in partnership with 603 Charcuterie. The purveyor of small batch chocolates features 12 flavored bars in addition to a product line that includes cacao nibs, dark chocolate cocoa bombs and a do-it-yourself chocolate elixir kit.
• Nelson’s Candy & Music (65 Main St., Wilton, 654-5030, nelsonscandymusic.com) is offering a variety of specialty sweets and treats for Valentine’s Day, from traditional assorted heart-shaped boxes of chocolate to solid chocolate dinosaurs holding tiny hearts.
• Pearls Candy & Nuts (356 S. Broadway, Salem, 893-9100, pearlscandynh.com) has assorted milk chocolate heart lollipops, gold foil solid milk chocolate hearts and more.
• Sweet Treats by Emilee (Milford, [email protected], find her on Facebook) offers milk chocolate-dipped Twinkies, breakable chocolate hearts filled with assorted candies, and cocoa bombs in several flavors, from milk, white or dark chocolate to salted caramel, peanut butter and cookies and cream. Find her products at the Manchester Craft Market (inside the Mall of New Hampshire, 1500 S. Willow St., Manchester), Locally Handmade (at the Merrimack Premium Outlets, 80 Premium Outlets Blvd., Merrimack), and Junction 71 (71 Route 101A, Amherst). You can also find them at the Milford Farmers Market on Saturday, Feb. 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., inside the Milford Town Hall Auditorium (1 Union Square, Milford).
• Van Otis Chocolates (341 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotis.com) has assorted chocolate gift boxes, custom chocolate-dipped Champagne bottles and milk chocolate foiled hearts. They’re also taking special orders for chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Sugary sweet
Decorate your cookies like a pro
By Meghan Siegler
Elevate a standard sugar cookie to a bake-shop-worthy treat by stepping up your baking game, whipping up a perfect royal icing and decorating with finesse.
Jessica Radloff from Granite State Cakes in Wilton teaches classes and posts tutorials on her Facebook page to help novice bakers make sugar cookies that look professionally decorated. And the best part is, you can focus on the icing instead of the dough.
“While you can make your own cookie dough, there’s absolutely no rule that says you can’t use ready-made dough from the refrigerated section of your local supermarket,” Radloff said.
Here are her tips for making ordinary sugar cookies extraordinary.
Roll and bake
Regardless of whether you make or buy your dough, Radloff advises that you roll your cookie dough out between two layers of parchment paper and place it in the freezer for about 5 minutes to help retain the shapes you cut out and make it easier to transfer to your baking sheet. Once it’s chilled, you can use cookie cutters or get creative; Radloff said you can print a template on a piece of paper and cut cookies with a sharp knife. Then it’s time to bake.
“I’ll preach parchment until the end of my days,” Radloff said. “Line your baking sheet with it. If you have a silicone mat feel free to use it instead. Give your cookies about 2 inches of space in case they spread a little.”
Bake ¼-inch-thick cookies at 350 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes, then let them cool completely before you start icing.
Nice icing
“Royal icing can seem intimidating but it is all about the consistency — too thin and it will never stay where you want it and it will take an eternity to dry. Too thick and it will be impossible to get [a] smooth, satisfying finish,” Radloff said.
Once your icing base is made [see recipe in box], add your desired amount of royal icing base to a mixing bowl and add food color until you get the shade you want. Radloff said that color continues to develop over time so mix them in a couple days ahead of time for darker colors. In a pinch, you can microwave your royal icing on the 50-percent power setting for 15 seconds at a time (no more than twice) to help speed up the process.
There are two popular methods of icing cookies, Radloff said. The first is using two different consistencies of icing — one that’s thicker to create a sturdy border and one that’s looser to fill in the spaces you’ve outlined. The second is using one medium-consistency icing that can hold its shape enough to outline but also be smoothed out nicely to fill in the outlines.
“I personally prefer the second option — I would prefer not to have to mix double the icing for my cookies when it’s not absolutely necessary,” Radloff said. “[But] some designs and details require different consistencies to achieve different looks.”
When thinning your icing, add water by the drop; consistency can change greatly with even a teaspoon. Medium consistency royal icing looks a bit like ranch dressing, Radloff said. You can test your icing by drawing a line through your icing with a knife and then counting the number of seconds it takes for the line to disappear into the rest of the icing. Medium icing will smooth out within about 15 seconds.
“The best advice I can give a new cookie decorator is to count your icing and then test it out on a piece of parchment paper to make sure it’s where you want it before piping it onto a cookie,” Radloff said. “If it’s too thick and doesn’t smooth out properly, add another mist of water and try again. … If it is too thin you can add half a teaspoon of confectioner’s sugar at a time to thicken it and then test again.”
Decoration perfection
“I would suggest using tipless icing bags so you do not have to go through the hassle of finding, buying and cleaning a ton of piping tips,” Radloff said. “Start small when you first cut your piping bags — you can always cut off more but you cannot add it back.”
Once you outline your cookies, let them set for a few minutes.
“Trust me, it’s worth the few minutes to preserve your mental health,” Radloff said. “The last thing you want after going through all the work to get to this point is for your icing to start dripping off of your cookies because you were too impatient to wait for your outline to set a bit.”
Once your outline has set — it will look a little less glossy and more matte — you can start to fill them in. Start from just inside your outline and work toward the center of each space you are “filling in.”
“You can choose solid-colored cookies for your first time decorating, or you can let your imagination run wild and add polka dots or stripes, choose a different outline and food color — the possibilities are endless,” Radloff said.
Once decorated, cookies should dry for 12 to 24 hours before packaging to prevent moisture in the cookie from seeping out and causing the colors to run or the ice cracking due to not being allowed to fully harden.
Royal icing
Jessica Radloff shares her recipe, minus a couple of “secret” ingredients that are key to her icing’s flavor but don’t affect consistency.
6 tablespoons meringue powder (You can use 9 tablespoons of egg whites but make sure they are pasteurized for food safety.)
10 Tablespoons water
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar
1 Tablespoon corn syrup (This is optional but it gives your fully dried icing a softer bite as opposed to the crunchy texture you sometimes find with decorated cookies.)
1 teaspoon almond extract (I use imitation to ensure I don’t have any issues with allergies.)
Add all of your ingredients to your mixing bowl, making sure to sift your dry ingredients to remove all lumps. Mix with a stand mixer or beater for a couple minutes or until the royal icing looks a bit like plaster — it will be thick. Store your finished royal icing in an airtight container with a piece of parchment or plastic wrap laid directly on the surface of your royal icing to prevent crusting on the surface of your icing.
Let them eat cupcakes
Put your own twist on the classic dessert
By Angie Sykeny
When it comes to Valentine’s Day treats, cupcakes are quintessential.
“They’re made with love, pretty to look at, and, let’s face it, they just make people happy,” said Tara Collins, baker and owner of Collins Cupcakes in Derry. “They’re everything we think about on Valentine’s Day.”
Cupcakes have a short, simple set of steps and ingredients that “most people have right in their cabinets and pantries,” Collins said, making them a great dessert option for beginner bakers.
“The great thing about baking cupcakes is that even if they don’t look perfect the first time, they will still taste great,” she said.
The versatility of cupcakes gives bakers plenty of room for creativity and experimentation.
“The customization options are endless,” Collins said, “and the fun thing is, cupcakes are individual [desserts], so each cupcake can be different … and customized to each person’s liking, and, more importantly, you don’t have to share.”
Consider filling your cupcakes with a fruit filling, like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or apples; or with pudding or sprinkles.
“Filling is a super easy way to elevate your cupcakes to a whole new flavor dimension,” said Brianna Lucciano, manager at Cake Fairy Bakery in Hooksett.
Play around with frostings by mixing extracts, liqueurs or candy or cookie pieces into a buttercream frosting base. Then, add a topping, like a single piece of candy — a heart-shaped candy is the perfect accent for a Valentine’s Day cupcake, Lucciano said — or sprinkles, fruit, edible glitter, or chocolate or caramel drizzle.
“If it sounds good to you, try it,” Lucciano said. “Do you think anyone thought a maple bacon cupcake would be good at first? Definitely not, but someone tried it, and look how beloved that flavor is now.”
One of the easiest ways to jazz up your cupcakes, Collins said, is with food coloring. For Valentine’s cupcakes, place streaks of pink food coloring inside the piping bag, fill it with white buttercream and swirl it on top of the cupcake once it’s cooled.
“Each one will look slightly different than the others, while at the same time complementing one another,” she said.
You can have fun with cupcakes this Valentine’s Day even if you aren’t up for baking them yourself.
“You can literally just go to your local box store and grab some unfrosted cupcakes,” Lucciano said, “and, if you can’t frost very well, grab an ice cream scoop and do a scoop of frosting on top of the cupcake, add some sprinkles or a chocolate drizzle, and you now have a gorgeous dessert that looks professionally crafted.”
Finally, Lucciano said, have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously; even if your cupcakes are a flop, “the thought is truly what counts.”
“So, they came out disastrous? It’s a fabulous story to tell your family and friends about how you tried and completely failed,” she said. “Laughter is the best medicine.”
Valentine’s Day buttercream frosting
Courtesy of Tara Collins, baker and owner of Collins Cupcakes in Derry
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
¾ cup strawberry jam
3 cups powdered sugar
Using a stand or hand mixer, whip butter until smooth. Add strawberry jam, then slowly add in powdered sugar. Mix until all sugar is well-incorporated and buttercream is smooth and creamy. Frost onto cooled chocolate cupcakes and top with fresh sliced strawberries.
Featured photo: Valentine cocoa bombs. Courtesy of Emilee Viaud.
