Valentine Jitters Be Gone!

Valentines is a holiday I don't usually love thinking about.  I know many people who spend weeks planning the perfect night, making reservations, finding the perfect outfit, and shopping for the perfect gift. I am not that kind of person.  I prefer a quiet night at home cooking my family’s favorite dishes and making a special dessert. 

I often find myself at a loss as to what to do for Valentines.  I don't think it is because I don't have a romantic bone in my body; I think it is because I find it overwhelming with so many different possibilities.  I am very lucky that I don't have that problem this year.

There have been many new kitchen gadgets to hit the market the past year or two and I am fortunate enough to have received many of them as gifts this past Christmas.

So, when one of the room mother's for my daughter's class asked me to bake cupcakes for the class Valentine party, I thought "Ya, I can do that".

Remember when I said I find Valentines overwhelming?  Well I have a problem with wanting to try it all and this year I can.  I received a book about cupcakes and neat ways to decorate them along with a really cool cup cake pan from my sister-in-law for Christmas. (Thank you Ms. Courtney, I am sure they will come in handy.)  If that was not perfect enough I was also given cake ball pans from my husband’s aunt. (Thank you Aunt Jo Ann.)  And, my mother gave me a mini cupcake machine (Thanks Mom!); and my daughter also received a spritz cookie machine from her cousins. (Thank you Zach and Lizzy!)

I have spent days trying to figure exactly what I wanted to do.  I first looked through my new Cup Cake book; Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.  I found an ingenious method for filling cup cake pans.  Why I never thought of this I have no idea, but you take a gallon size freezer bag and fill it with the batter.  Remove as much air as you can, zip it closed.  Snip the corner off, lower the bag corner into the cupcake pan and squeeze just the right amount into the pan.  Lift, and move to the next spot.  You will end up with a no mess cupcake pan that was quickly filled.  Amazing right?

So next I check one of my favorite websites, www.pinterest.com.  (What?  You don't know about Pinterest?  Check them out and if you want a quick invite drop me a line and I will send you one as quick as I can.)  I have been pinning all things Valentines for a month and I knew I could find good ideas there for how to decorate my cupcakes and what flavor to make them. 

And, I was right.  I am totally intrigued by these multi-colored cupcakes I found on www.pinterest.com.  Yes, that means more work for me but that also means I get to learn how to do something new.  I also learned that using a similar technique for filling the cupcake pan, I can fill several bags with different colored batter and squirt them into the cupcake cups and hopefully come out with some cool looking cup cakes.  I think the kids will love them; it will be a neat surprise and give them something to be curious about.  I am planning on blogging about this experience in more detail, so check back soon to see how it turns out. 


So cake pops are all the rage where I live.  I can't go anywhere without seeing them now.  I see them in bakeries, Starbucks and even on the flower delivery sites.  They are cute perfect size bits of YUM!  I have the pans and I have the sticks to put them on to make them more like suckers but it has been bugging me that I don't know how to ice these guys.  I have been thinking about it for days.  Finally today I sat down and looked at some other sites and discovered they use candy melts.  Well duh!  Makes totally sense!  I can hardly wait.  These are going in the kid’s gift bags and are going to be so much fun!

So, along with the cake pops I have this new neat machine I am just dying to try.  It makes mini-cupcakes!  But the neat thing is I can put them on a stick like the cake pops.  My plan is to give them to my daughter's teacher as a gift.

Then lastly, in my sleep last night I decided we needed to christen that Spritz Cookie Machine my daughter was given and bake cookies to place on top of the cupcakes for the kids.

So,  no pressure right.  All this in two days.  Can I do it?  You bet!

I still have no idea what my plans are here at home for Valentines, but I know the school party is going to be awesome!

Maybe I will decide to make reservations and take the family out for a nice meal.  We shall see.