Healthy Valentine Treat Ideas

[BeckyM]

Hello everyone! I have a mental block, and I'm hoping you all can help me out.

I'm leading a meeting at work on Valentine's Day, and I wanted to bring some home-made treats just for something special. I have recipes for decadent, full-fat goodies that would work well, but I was thinking maybe I should bring something healthier instead (or in addition). Any ideas? I was thinking along the lines of cookies or brownies that I could maybe do heart-shaped, or maybe something heart-shaped with fresh fruit? I would love tried & true healthy recipes or suggestions of CL ones that would work well (I have issues back to about '96 or '97).

Thanks in advance for your help!

Becky

[Jessica]

How about some of the Christmas cookies with a Valentine twist? You could make the raspberry strippers (red) or make the truffle ones with red or pink icing instead of black and white.

[lorilei]

How about chocolate dipped fruit? (strawberries, cherries, etc.) Fulfills the sweet tooth without being extraordinarily rich. And if you stick with red fruits and display on a festive platter, it will be a perfect "treat". http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[SHERRY]

Ooohh I do like the thought sounds of chocolate covered strawberries, rasberries, etc. other ideas...

Mini-cheesecakes, cut the stem out of a strawberry so it makes a V in the middle, slice the strawberry thin and place a slice on the mini-cheesecake so it looks like a red heart in the middle...

You could make red, pink, purple heart wedding mints, I have a great recipe, they are the soft ones made with cream cheese and powdered sugar. You can make them ahead of time and keep in fridge. They are the kind of thing people will walk by and constantly steal one here and there. Addicting...

You could make your favorite brownie recipe and cut out paper heart templates. Lay it in the middle of each brownie and sift powder suger over brownie. Remove template and you have a white dusted brownie with a heart in the middle...just a thought. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

I just thought of something else,,,I always make cream puffs at Valentines Day. They are so elegant with the tops dipped in chocolate...you could even sprinkle red candies on after you dip the tops. Or, if your in a hurry, Sam's club sells great cream puffs in the freezer section!

Good Luck

[This message has been edited by SHERRY (edited 01-30-2001).]

[Kristi]

What about a fruit pizza w/ lots of strawberries?? Perhaps baked in a heart-shaped pan?

[BeckyM]

Thanks for the great ideas! I've done chocolate-covered fruit before -- I don't know why I didn't think of that. The fruit selection at the grocery hasn't been that great lately though, so I'll have to see if I can even get fresh strawberries right now. I also really like the heart stencil idea for the brownies and the mini-cheesecake idea. And the Christmas cookies would be good too. I just can't decide! (Of course if anyone else has additional ideas, I'd love that too!)

Thanks so much!
Becky

[comabri]

oh, and don't forget if you're dipping fruit, use some white chocolate too. maybe even add a little food coloring to the white chocolate to make pink and have the platter with red strawberries with white, pink and brown colored chocolate. and if you can get red rasberries, sprinkle some of those over the platter too! Wow. that sounds so good. Good question!

[darthchrista]

Sherry, would you mind posting your wedding mint recipe. I love those mints, and they are addicting. Thank you.

[SHERRY]

darthchrista, I was just going through some old valentine posts for ideas and saw your request.....anyway I thought I would post this recipe for anyone interested. I love these mints. They are really easy to make and you can buy so many different molds at a cake supply shop.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Wedding Mints

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Candy

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 2lb bag powdered sugar
1 8oz block cream cheese
1 teaspoon mint flavoring
1 teaspoon butter flavoring

Cream powder sugar, cream cheese and flavoring together. Tint with color if desired. Roll into balls. Roll balls into sugar. Press into mint molds. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.


Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0

[catharine]

I don't know if you are looking for something savory instead of sweet, but...

last year someone posted how they made a salad with heart-shaped beet slices. Having recently reviewed the Beet and Goat Cheese Crostini (J/F '02) I would suggest making these and using a cookie cutter to make heart-shaped beet slices. Hey, you could even skip the baguette idea and make heart-shaped bread pieces.

You could do everything ahead and right before the meeting you could assemble (it is easier than it sounds). You could bring the bread slices in a ziploc bag, then spread with the goat cheese mixture (very easy to make) and then drop a beet on top.

This might be way more than you want to do for a work meeting - but maybe someone else can do it.

[wyopatti]

How about cupcakes (preferably chocolate, of course) and frost them with fluffy white boiled icing then cover them with coconut tinted red and/or pink.

I bought the puffed heart pan from Wilton and am going to make this cake and frost it with the fluffy white boiled icing and then make meringue kisses tinted red and pink to go around it for my husband.

You could always dress up the chocolate covered strawberries as tuxedo strawberries. Very cute and easy.

[gobluem82]

For Valentine's Day, I always bring a basket of small (about 2" across), heart-shaped sugar cookies sprinkled with red sugar. That way people have only have one or two (in theory!) without feeling too guilty.