Catch Me on News 8 Austin Today Talking Valentine’s Day!
Monday, February 8th, 2010Change of Air Date: This segment will air Wednesday February 10th, all day on Channel 8 News Austin- Tune In!
Today Monday February 8th at 10AM, I will be on News 8 Austin sharing one my favorite Valentine’s Day entertaining treats. Tune in anytime to Channel 8 and you will probably catch a glimpse of the segment since it will air for 24 hours. I was lucky enough to be on News 8 Austin once before back in December 2008 and it was so much fun. They are such a great team over there. For those of you who live outside Austin here’s the yummy treat I’ll be demonstrating today.
Don’t forget to order your Valentine’s Day cookies now! The sweet holiday is this Sunday February 14th.
White Chocolate Lattice Hearts: (recipe below)
It’s really easy, fun and inexpensive to celebrate Valentine’s Day and make last minute festive gifts and delicious treats for friends and family. I bet you already have all the ingredients and supplies at home. This is great activity to do with your children.
Everything tastes better when you add chocolate and these white chocolate lattice hearts are not only simple and very cheap to make but they give a beautiful gourmet touch for Valentine’s Day. It’s so simple, takes only minutes to make.
If you have a heart shape cookie cutter, you can trace it with a permanent marker on wax paper (or you can just draw it) and then flip the paper over to avoid any marker mixing with your food. Next, you melt good quality white chocolate (or milk or dark works great too) in a microwave for 1 minute or until melted, stir it, and then pour it into a zip-lock bag, snip the corner and start to draw.
First, trace the outside of the heart then just go back and create the lattice. You can sprinkle red sugar to be festive or I love adding ginger, granulated espresso beans or kosher salt for a gourmet touch. Also, you can infuse flavor into your chocolate by adding a few drops of pure extract, like orange, mint or raspberry. If you want to make them into lollipops just insert a stick at the base, and then let them firm up in a fridge for about 15 minutes. You can serve them facing either way up.
Lattice Hearts add a fancy touch to ice cream, or “covers” for hot drinks like, hot chocolate, coffee (turns it into turn a mocha) or if you’re feeling really festive, add it Kaluha and coffee. Also they make great gifts for loved ones or guests. Package them in a food grade plastic bag with a red ribbon bow or you can put them on the top of cookies for a celebratory touch. Because they are made of chocolate it is best to keep refrigerated until you are ready to serve them. The best part is that you can’t mess up; each heart will be unique, different and delicious!
Recipe: For 4 Large White Chocolate Lattice Hearts
Ingredients:
4 oz. Good quality white (dark or milk) chocolate
Garnish: red crystal sugar, granulated espresso beans, ginger or kosher salt
Directions:
1. Heat chocolate in a microwave safe bowl (approximately 1 minute)
2. Place a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet. Using a heart shape cookie cutter trace the hearts with a permanent marker or draw hearts free-style on wax paper. Flip the wax paper over.
3. Stir the melted chocolate and using a spatula pour the chocolate into a zip lock plastic bag. Push the chocolate down into the corner. Make a tiny snip in the corner with a scissor.
4. Begin to draw your hearts by tracing the outside of the heart first then fill in the center adding diagonal lines and then crossing them over to create the lattice.
5. Garnish as you like, gently sprinkling on your topping. You can add a stick here to create a lollipop.
6. Place hearts in the fridge to firm up (15 minutes). Keep them refrigerated until serving.
Enjoy!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Sweetly,
Alexandra
