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Valentine's Day Fortune Cookies
Prepare love notes or sayings using little slips of paper about 3 inches
long by approximately 3/4 inches wide
HINTS:
- Make only a few cookies at a time, because the cookies
stiffen quickly and will not be able to be shaped.
- To form into the crescent shape use a coffee cup
- To handle the
hot cookies, wear white, cotton gloves.
Preheat the oven to 300F.
INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 cookies)
1
cup flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup egg whites (from 4 large eggs)
1/2
cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
Mix all dry ingredients,
then add the oil and 4 egg whites. Beat until smooth. Add water and vanilla and mix well. Spread 1 tablespoon of the batter
in a 4" circle onto a greased baking sheet. Repeat to make 4 circles. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until the circles
are a light brown. Do not underbake or the cookie will not shape well.
Remove one cookie at a time from the oven with
a wide spatula and onto the center of a potholder. Add a fortune to the center of the cookie and fold in half, pinching the
edges of the cookie to seal. Remember to keep working quickly! Push the sealed side over the edge of a coffee cup to curve
into the fortune cookie's familiar shape. Place the shaped cookies, points down, into muffin tins to cool and retain their
shape.
Can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
A Valentine's Day Dessert
Sometimes just a good sweet dessert is enough to drive a man wild, especially a dessert that is appealing to the eye and
contains favorites like sugar cookes and cherries! Makes 9 servings, unless you have a very hungry guy!
1-18 oz. package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1-8 oz. package cream cheese
1 cup confectioner's
sugar
1-21 oz. can cherry pie filling
1-8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
Directions
1.
Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C)
2. Roll the cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick and form it into a heart shape.
Place the heart
shape on a cookie sheet
3. Bake at 350 F (175 C) for 10 minutes
or until the cookie is lightly brown on the edges
4.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese with confectioner's sugar.
Spread the mixture on cooled cookie
Cover with
cherry pie filling and whipped cream
Valentine Food For Thought
Cabbage always has
a heart; Green beans string along.
You're such a cute tomato, will you peas to me belong?
You've been the apple of my
eye, you know how much I care
So lettuce get together, we'd make a perfect pear
Now, something's sure to turnip
to prove you can't be beet;
So, if you carrot all for me let's let our tulips meet.
Don't squash my hopes and dreams
now, Bee my honey, dear;
Or tears will fill my potato's eyes, while sweet corn lends an ear
I'll cauliflower shop
and say, your dreams are parsley mine
I'll work and share my celery, so be my Valentine!
Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
Gourmet-gift expert Shari
Fitzpatrick (Shari's Berries) shows how to achieve gourmet chocolate-dipped treats at home for much less than retail price.
24-30
perfectly ripened strawberries, green caps intact
6 oz (.375 lb) sweet, semi-sweet, bitter sweet, milk and/or white chocolate.
Preferably chocolate chips, chocolate calets or chocolate bars coarsely chopped.
Believe it ot not, chocolate chips
are really the best way to melt chocolate. They are available at grocery stores in dark, white or milk chocolate varieties
and taste wonderful. Melting them is the key, so utilize the easy method provided below.
Microwave Melting Chocolate
In
a microwave-safe bowl, melt chips using either the defrost setting or 10-percent power in the microwave. Use two to three
minute increments until smooth.
Dipping Strawberries
Yes, there is a technique involved to perfect chocolate-covered
strawberries. When you dip the strawberry into the melted chocolate, give it a little shake as you withdraw it. This will
fill in all the cracks and leave a nice, even line of chocolate at the base. When the strawberry is completely withdrawn from
the chocolate, swirl it in a quick, clockwise motion to "spin" the dripping chcocolate off.
Invert the hand, pointing
the strawberry at the ceiling, to seal it and allow you to sprinkle other candies or toppings around the surface.
Cool
covered strawberries on a sheet pan with wax paper. Keep them at a cool room tempeature and try to dip them the same day you
serve them.
Awesome Double Chocolate Valentine's Brownies
Ingredients
1-1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold margarine
or butter
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2
teaspoon baking powder
1 8-ounce milk chocolate bar, broken into chunks
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions
Preheat
oven to 350 deg. F. Line a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with foil and set aside.
In bowl, combine 1 cup flour and the sugar;
cut in butter until crumbly. Press on bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes.
In another bowl, beat milk, cocoa, egg, remaining
flour, vanilla and baking powder. Mix in chocolate pieces and nuts. Spread over prepared crust. Bake 20 minutes or until set.
Cool
and lift out of pan. For hearts, cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter or cut around a cardboard template using a knife. Decorate
with icing or gels, if desired. Store covered.
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