Decade Three: Love Day Presents from the Kitchen

Say what you will about Valentine's Day....it's a Halmark holiday....you should show people you love them all the time not just because you have to...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!! I personally LOVE this holiday and not because I have a sweetheart to share it with, but because it celebrates the one thing that I think matters most in life.....Love! And I think that you should share the love with everyone, not just your romantic partner!

This year I made two yummy treats in the kitchen. The first was Peanutella. A homemade peanut version of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread that so many love, including me. My friend Colleen posted a link to this recipe from Smitten Kitchen on her facebook page. Although I am not fan of peanuts or peanut butter I saved it because I know that the combination of peanuts and chocolate make the rest of the world very happy.

This was very easy to make, who knew that peanuts would liquidify in a food processor?!?!?

And here is a shot of it all packaged up for delivery. I am a firm believer in if you are going to take the effort to make something homemade as a gift you should make the presentation as cute as possible.

The next tasty treat I made was Cookie Dough Cupcakes....yes, you heard me right. I got the idea from a blog that I frequent called Baked Bree (save this one to your favorites, it's awesome). She sent out a Valentine email with the recipe which must have been a special gift to her followers because I can't find it on her blog, but she said she adapted the recipe from another blog, called Kevin & Amanda here is a link to her recipe. I've not spent a lot of time reading this blog, but did poke around a bit and it looks fun too!

The recipe did not disappoint except for the frosting. The cake portion was moist and fluffy and the cookie dough center.....OMG....OMG....OMG, delicious! The frosting however was WAY too sugary. I was thinking when I was making it that it had too much sugar (3/4 cup brown sugar and 3.5 cups of powdered sugar) but I always try a recipe for the first time as directed and then I tweek it later. So next time I will use a regular buttercream icing instead.

Here is a shot of a cupcake sliced open. It is divine! This is probably going to become my new go to "it's your birthday so these cupcakes are calorie free" gift!