Valentines Day – Dorm Bakery

Although Valentines Day is over the struggle to find the perfect man (or woman) never ends. If only it were as simple as throwing ingredients into a bowl, mixing it a bit, and popping it into the oven for a hot minute. I mean, all it takes is a little sugar, spice, and everything nice, right? At least that’s how it worked for the gingerbread man. In any case, when you’re given the cookie cutter for the perfect man you can’t pass up the opportunity to possibly cook up the best man you’ve ever met. Who knows, it could be love at first bite!

We found a simple sugar cookie recipe online from Allrecipes.com, and we mixed up an original batch and a chocolate batch.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup butter flavored shortening (we used a mix of butter and coconut oil)

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

We added about a teaspoon of cinnamon to give it some tasty spice.

(We also made a chocolate batch, for these we put in about 1/4 cup baking cocoa, a titch less flour, and a pinch more sugar)

Once your dough is all mixed up it’s good to cool it for about an hour (we skipped this step). Preheat the oven to 400. Then roll the dough out on a floured surface and begin shaping your men from the mass. Spread them evenly on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes. Depending on your preference they are tasty frosted or simply nude.

If you’re looking for a tasty treat to accompany you for tea or coffee, these men fit the bill. Not only are they great listeners but their sweetness is the perfect complement to a hot beverage!

If you are searching for the perfect Valentines dessert, you have reached your destination. This month’s pie is not exactly a pie, it’s kind of a cheesecake…but it’s also not exactly a cheesecake, it’s kind of a pie…Either way it is more decadent than any love potion and more desirable than an arrow in the heart from cupid. The idea for this pie, as most of my random baking epiphanies hit me, came to me one night as I was lying in my bed preparing to slumber. I couldn’t get chocolate covered strawberries out of my head, and then I just got this notion–a baking notion–a pie baking notion–and I wondered what about a chocolate covered strawberry pie?! I was quick to recognize the brilliance of this conception, but also quick to tell myself to reevaluate in the morning once my wits were about me. Morning came, and it was still a stroke of magnificence, the only trouble was figuring out exactly what Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie was. I had many different ideas for what this could become (some of which I will hopefully attempt later…), but I decided to go with a sort of chocolate cheesecake base, with layers of chocolate dipped strawberries, all in a graham cracker crust. This was my first time making cheesecake, but I didn’t let that stop me.

Here’s the recipe I ended up with for the cheesecake mixture:

In saucepan heat ¼ C heavy whipping cream and ¼ C chocolate chips. Remove from heat once melted.
Beat 1 ½ 8-oz bars of cream cheese with ½ C sugar and ¾ of a can of condensed milk, add 1/3 C of cocoa powder add 3 eggs. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract and cooled chocolate mixture.
Be sure to blend well. (This was a little difficult without a mixer, but I did my best with a spatula and my hands).

Then I sliced a container of strawberries and, with some help, dipped half in milk chocolate and half in dark chocolate. Next I layered together the strawberries and the cheesecake in the graham cracker crust and baked it all for 45-50 min at 325.

Once it was finished baking it had to refrigerate overnight. We got a little excited though and took it out early to try some. It turned out tremendously. I couldn’t have hoped for an experiment to go any better. It also made me all the more excited to try my other chocolate covered strawberry ideas! So whether you’re baking solo, for your Valentine, or for a whole host of ‘Galentines’ this is a perfect pie for the occasion.