Photo by micheile henderson
You can express your love in many ways, but one way that never gets old is through food. That is, a homemade culinary creation that shows your partner they’re worth the extra effort. Whether you’re whipping up a special dinner or picnic filled with your partner’s favourite treats, we’ve got some Valentine’s food ideas to give your better half some palatable pleasure.
For those well-intentioned bakers that battle get it right, we’ve got a flop-proof recipe for you that you can make in an instant with your digital microwave. Cake-in-a-cup comes to the rescue!
Valentine’s Recipes You Can Make with Your Bennett Read Kitchen Appliances:
Chocolate Mud Mug Cake
Recipe and image from The Cooking Collective
What you need:
- Cooking Spray or baking paper and margarine for greasing,
- Your finest/prettiest ceramic tea or coffee cups,
- Fruit of your choosing, ice-cream, icing, or cream to decorate,
- Chopped chocolate or ready-made choc chips,
- Brown sugar,
- Cocoa powder,
- Vanilla essence,
- Self-raising flour,
- Oil,
- A sieve for dusting (if you choose to decorate this way),
- And Milk.
Try the chocolate mug cake recipe.
Bake time: 2 minutes.
Pear Dessert Tart
Recipe and image sourced from www.foodandwine.com
Photo by Victor Protasio
For those fancy foodies you really want to impress, this dessert will do the trick! Get out your kitchen stand mixer and prepare to make something dough-lightful.
What you need:
- Flour,
- Salt,
- Butter,
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese,
- Ice water,
- Apple cider vinegar,
- Pears,
- Honey,
- Lemon,
- Cornstarch,
- Black pepper,
- An egg,
- Cling/plastic wrap,
- Baking paper,
- An egg/basting brush,
- And a grater
Tip: You can use your Marvello to save time mixing and kneading the dough!
Try the pear dessert recipe (Kate Leahy).
Time: 2hrs 25min
Mussel Crème Fraîche Tagliatelle
Image source: www.thegirllovestoeat.com
Flex your chef-muscles with this romantic dinner dish. There’s no need to go out when your tastebuds can travel to an ocean-side escape. P.S. strainer pots are ideal for this recipe.
What you need:
- Tagliatelle pasta,
- An onion,
- Olive oil,
- Dry white wine,
- A tub of Crème Fraîche,
- Mussels,
- Parsley,
- And tarragon.
Try the muscle pasta recipe (by Sara Buenfeld).
Time: 25min
Chocolate-Dipped Valentine’s Sugar Cookies
Image source: www.annabanana.co
Sugar cookies have become extremely popular due to the Royal Icing cookie decorating trend. If you haven’t made them before, they taste a lot like shortbread, but aren’t as crumbly and are more golden-brown in colour.
You can keep things simple this Valentine’s and dip your sweetheart’s cookies into melted chocolate instead of going the elaborate Royal-Icing-decorating route.
You can mix the dough by hand or use a stand mixer. This recipe is also really great to bake in a compact oven.
What you need:
- A heart-shaped cookie cutter,
- Cooking spray,
- Baking paper (to lay the freshly-dipped hearts on while they set),
- Butter or baking margarine,
- Flour,
- Salt,
- Vanilla essence,
- Sugar,
- Baking chocolate,
- X1 Egg,
- Edible sprinkles to decorate,
- And icing sugar.
Time: 1hr 25min
Freshly Baked Scones
Image source: www.eatlittlebird.com
Another great recipe to bake in a mini oven, is this scone recipe. It’s a quick and easy win that’s the perfect accompaniment for a romantic Valentine’s picnic.
What you need:
- All-purpose flour,
- Salt,
- Caster sugar,
- Baking powder,
- Butter,
- Egg,
- Egg brush,
- Tea towel,
- Full cream milk,
- Heavy whipping cream,
- Strawberry jam,
- A Kitchen Stand Mixer (with flat paddle and whisk attachment),
- And a circular cutter, teacup, or glass.
Try this scone recipe (by Thanh).
Time: 20min
Vanilla Soufflé
Image source: www.cookingschooldropout.com
Soufflés are notoriously hard when it comes to getting them light and fluffy, but you’ll be surprised by the heavenly fluffiness that you can achieve through an air fryer. This tasty dessert is the height of romance (being French in origin) and will level up any dinner date you have planned. Plus, 2 greased ramekins will easily fit in your air fryer and will be fairly quick to cook! Dust with icing sugar, decorate with fresh berries, cream, or ice cream, and enjoy.
What you need:
- X2 Ceramic ramekins (this recipe makes more, but you can set aside the rest in the fridge and have some ready-to-go for whenever you want),
- Cooking spray,
- Butter,
- All-purpose flour,
- Sugar,
- Milk,
- Vanilla essence,
- Eggs,
- Cream of tartar,
- Icing sugar,
- A whisk or kitchen stand mixer,
- A Medium pan,
- A spoon,
- A sieve for dusting (if you choose to decorate this way),
- And an egg separator (if you battle to do this by hand).
Try this soufflé recipe (by Kelsey).
Time: 38min
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Image source: www.livewellbakeoften.com
True to the theme, these Valentine’s cupcakes are a lovely deep-red colour with a deliciously rich flavour. For best results, you can bake them all at once in a fan-assisted electric oven. However, you can also cook as you need (with individual ramekins) in an air fryer oven.
What you need:
- Cupcake liners/patty pans,
- Butter,
- Castor sugar,
- Eggs,
- Vanilla essence,
- Plain flour,
- Cocoa powder,
- Baking powder,
- Pink food colouring,
- Cooking spray,
- Icing sugar,
- Electric beaters,
- A sieve,
- And a skewer (to test if they’re cooked through).
Try this red velvet cupcake recipe (by Baking Mad).
Time: 45 minutes.
We hope you’ve found a Valentine’s recipe that your loved-one will enjoy. If you own a Bennett Read cooking appliance and would like to share your Valentine’s creation with us, you are welcome to share a picture of it on Facebook or Instagram and tag us (@BennettReadZA) – we’d really love to see what you’ve made!
