Chocolate Candy Hearts

Love is in the air...and in your chocolate! Making these little chocolate hearts is sooooo easy and will look impressive when personalized for that special someone (or yourself!) :)

Skill Level: beginner

Supplies:

• candy heart mold ($1.99 from Michael's)
• 1 bag pink chocolate melts
• 1 bag red chocolate melts (or buy white chocolate and separate into 2 bowls and die them with food coloring)
• Ziploc bag, sandwich size
• 1 toothpick
• paper printed with letters to trace

Put a handful of 1 color of chocolate melts into the sandwich ziploc bag (leave bag open and unzipped) and place on a plate in the microwave for 30 second intervals until melted. Squeeze all the chocolate into one corner of the bag, then zip the bag shut. Cut off a tiny bit of the corner of the bag and - voila! You have a decorator bag! Best to cut off just a teeny-tiny part of the bag, then cut of a little more and a little more until you reach the size you want for decorating.

Draw any design you wish with the chocolate into the little molds. I used a toothpick to perfect my hearts. The stripes were painted with chocolate by using a small art paintbrush (use a new one!). To make the letters, print out a piece of paper with letters in the font and size you want. Then place the paper BACKWARDS under your mold and trace the letters with chocolate. When the candy heart is done, the letters will be facing the correct way. :)

Let your designs set and dry in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Then start filling in the rest of the heart mold with a contrasting color, as seen below. *Notice my "C" is backwards*

**IMPORTANT NOTE**

If the chocolate in your decorator bag is getting to firm, pop it back in the microwave for a few seconds. BUT, if the chocolate is really hot when you fill in the rest of your mold, the hot chocolate will melt your design and it won't set up the way you want. The chocolate in the bag should be just warm enough to flow smoothly.

Once all the molds are filled in, tap the tray on the counter several times (I would drop it onto the counter from about 4 inches up) to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Otherwise these bubbles can ruin the look of your design.

Place the tray in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes while the chocolate sets.

Here's my mold straight out of the fridge! :)

Tutorial: Cake Pops!

Cakes pops are simply a fantastically delicious treat! So chocolatey-crisp on the outside and warmly rich and soft and yummy on the inside. Mmmmm!

Bakerella, a wonderously fabulous site for all things yummy done with taste and style, made these little pops famous. Thank you, Bakerella! Dipped in pink or red chocolate make these an excellent Valentine's Day treat for family, friends or schoolmates!

Skill Level: moderate beginner

Supplies:

1 cake mix (I used triple chocolate)

1 container cream cheese frosting, 16 oz.

1 package chocolate melts

wax paper

candy sticks

Bake the cake, as directed on the box, in a 9x13 pan. Let cool on wire rack or wax paper.

After cake has cooled, crumbled by hand into a large mixing bowl.

Spoon several large dollups of cream cheese frosting into the bowl and mix by hand. You probably won't use the entire can. I used almost all of the frosting and the mixture was a little too soft.

Roll the mixture into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Refridgerate for a few hours or place in freezer for 15 to 60 minutes to firm up.

When the cake balls have cooled, it's time to melt the chocolate coating. This is where experience could be helpful. I've never melted chocolate for coating or dipping before, but it worked out okay. Chocolate can be tricky and won't coat smoothly or shiny if overheated. But no matter how the chocolate coating turns out, it'll be delicious!

A double boiler is recommended for melting the chocolate, but microwaving in in a dish at 15 to 30 second intervals will work as well.

Any leftover chocolate can be stored for future use. I stored mine in these convenient little Gerber plastic food containers.

Take the cake balls out of the freezer and let them sit for a few minutes. Stick a candy stick into a ball, only going about halfway into the ball. If one side of the ball is flat from sitting on the sheet, insert the stick on that side.

Again, I don't know the "professional" way to coat with chocolate, so I employed the "dip and twist" method. :) Rotate the stick so the cake ball in evenly coated and continue to twist as you pull the ball straight up and out from the chocolate. Hopefully this will leave a cute little swirl on top.

Place the sticks in styrofoam to let the chocolate dry.

I didn't have any styrofoam on hand, so I rigged up this beautiful drying rack using a wire rack held up by four small dishes and slit small holes in cardboard to hold the sticks securely. :)

Pretty cool swirls, eh? :)

Yummy!!